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5 THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 

OR, 

KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 

AN HISTORICAL WESTERN STORY OF 
THE PRESENT TIME, 

WITH 


INTERESTING CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN JEFF AND 
ABE ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. 




B. 




by ^ 

F ^ R A I a . 


/ 



COPYRlGl- 



CINCINNATI : 

PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year *^363, by 
B. F. CRAIG, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for 
the Southern District of Ohio. 


24 p 


TO 


MRS. ELIZABETH M. BROOKING, 

OF CLINTON COUNTY, MISSOURI, 

^ook 


IS MOST AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED, BY 

THE AUTHOR. 


/ 




PREFACE. 


I PRESENT you with my first book. It is no fiction. 
The actors described are, or have been, living men and 
women : some of them still survive ; others tenant 
the narrow house of the dead. Besides, the writ- 
ing or reading mere fiction would be like sitting by 
the table, and going through the motions, without 
having any thing to eat. 

I am aware that books, like water, will find their 
level, and upon the great literary ocean I launch 
my little bark, to buffet the waves of criticism. If 
wrecked upon the rock of the classic and learned, I 
hope and honestly trust that it will find a resting- 
place in the hearts of the million of my country- 
men. 

So far as it is political, I have given no opinion 
1 * (V) 


vi 


PREFACE. 


of my own, but have faithfully endeavored to repre- 
sent the opinions of others. I have said nothing in 
extenuation, or set down aught in malice, against 
any person or party ; but if any one, by a perusal 
of its pages, shall find a picture, in which he has 
been an actor, true to the letter — as Nathan said 
unto David — Thou art the man! 

I have compressed the interesting details of thir- 
teen years into a short story, hoping not to weary 
you. Read it : if you do n’t like it, let the fault 
be with 

The Author. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Introduction to the Border Ruffian — The lost 
child 13 

CHAPTER 11. 

Fate of Dixie — The first conversation between Jeff 
and Abe — Moral view of slavery 17 

CHAPTER III. 

The second search for the lost child — Story on cir- 
cumstantial evidence 22 

CHAPTER IV. 

Mingo’s trip to California 29 

CHAPTER Y. 

Mrs. S mesmerized 33 

CHAPTER VI. 

The second conversation between Jeff and Abe — 
Extension of slavery, and colonization of the 

negroes discussed 37 

(vii) 


Vlll 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER VIT. 

PAGE 

The lost child found 42 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The desire of Burtice to make Kansas a slave 
State — His peculiar views of slavery 48 

CHAPTER IX. 

The reader introduced to Major Six and Don Partlo. 54 
CHAPTER X. 

The third conversation between Jeff and Abe — Re- 
ligious and moral view of slavery — Its introduc- 
tion into this country 58 

CHAPTER XI. 

Cora attends boarding-school 64 

CHAPTER XII. 

Hawkeye killed — His family leave the territory ... 67 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Consultation between Major Six and Dutch Bob 
concerning the men at Timber Point 71 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The fourth conversation between Jeff and Abe — 
Difficulties in debating the slavery question — Its 
power to overthrow the Government — General 
profits of slave labor 74 


CONTENTS. 


IX 


CHAPTER XV. 

PAUI 

Mary Hawkeye in Missouri after the death of her 
husband 79 

CHAPTER XVL 

Cora’s visit to the h]ast 82 

CHAPTER XVIT. 

Shilo emigrates to Kansas — His mysterious dis- 
appearance 89 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

The fifth conversation between Jeff and Abe — Free 
and slave labor discussed — Political view of the 
subject — The crisis figuratively portrayed 92 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Cora returns home from the East — Her unexpected 
fight of Don Partlo 100 

CHAPTER XX. 

Ned returns to Kentucky — His account of political 
parties in the territory, and views of the country. 103 

CHAPTER XX 

Mary Hawkeye acts the Prodigal Son 107 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The sixth conversation between Jeff and xAbe — Se- 
cession of Missouri discussed 113 


X 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

PAOB 

Don Partlo’s first interview with Cora in Missouri — 

His desertion from the camp of Major Six 118 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Oakhead and Bob Beabout, the bushwhackers .. . 125 
CHAPTER XXV. 

Cora arrested by military authority 132 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

The seventh conversation between Jeff and Abe — 

The crisis figuratively portrayed 137 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

The negroes of Colonel S flee to Kansas — The 

Colonel on the dodge 144 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

The first and last days of Mingo 147 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Little Ben, the newsboy — Don Partlo robs the 
United States mail 156 

CHAPTER XXX. 

The eighth conversation between Jefi* and Abe — 
Religious view of slavery — Origin of the negro. 160 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Cora escapes from prison 173 


CONTENTS. 


XI 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

PAGE 

Arrival of Cora’s prison letter in the East 177 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Attack of Hon Partlo and thirteen men upon one 
hundred troopers — His party are surrounded by 
sixty soldiers — Their brave escape — His singular 
dream, and fears for Cora 183 

CHAPTER XXXiy. 

The ninth conversation between Jeff and Abe — 
Capabilities, nationality, and origin of the negro 
discussed 189 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

Dissipation of Burtice — Arrest of Lord Dunmore — 

The last days of Burtice 199 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Cora’s singular escape from prison — Her search for 
Don Partlo, and unexpected meeting with him in 
disguise 208 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

The tenth conversation between Jeff and Abe — 

The rights of freedom — Different systems of 
slavery — Origin and destiny of the negro ...... 215 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

The meeting of Cora and her father — Don Partlo 
in the council — Their departure for Texas — Her 
poetic speech to Don Partlo on that occasion... 229 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN. 


CHAPTER I. 

De’ep settled o^er the broad-spread plains, 

No sound is heard, dumb silence reigns ; 

No wave in the air is toss’d: 

0, my God ! my child is lost. 

Bright as a ray of light from the burning mount- 
ain, on the deep, dark shades of night; lovely as 
the view of heaven to a dying man, is the sight of 
rest to a worn-out, weary traveler. About one dozen 
years ago, far toward the setting sun, on the border 
of Missouri, after traversing the plains the live-long 
day, “ I lost every trace of my way, and wandered 
in the shades of night.” When about to give up in 
despair, and lie down upon the cold, damp earth, 
with no cover but the canopy of heaven, I for- 
tunately discovered that I was near the plantation 
of Colonel S . 

Go with me, kind reader, to the residence of the 
Colonel, and we will apply for food and rest. The 
Colonel is alive to the wants of a stranger. He 
knows by experience the value of a comfortable bed 
2 


14 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN J ' 


and a warm supper, to one who is tired, cold, wet, and 
hungry. He has been a long time in the Western 
country, hut in early boyhood received an Eastern 
education ; though somewhat rough in his manners, 
he is a true gentleman ; tall in person, with a mus- 
cular frame, and is a true specimen of a live Bor- 
der Ruffian. He is used to camp-life, and has told 
me of his many skirmishes with the Indians ; but 1 
have no time now to relate them. 

I will now introduce you to one of the most in- 
teresting families with whom it has been my fortune 
to become acquainted in the Western country. Mrs. 

S is a native of the West, and a true type of 

a gentle countrywoman — affectionate, confiding and 
faithful ; the mother of an only daughter, who (at 
that time) was about five years of age ; possessing 
the mild, sweet temper of her mother, with the en- 
ergy and determination of her father. Sweet and 
beautiful child ! The prairie breeze, as it rustles 
through her golden locks, whispers no tidings of the 
future. Kind reader, imagine a man of middle age, 
far removed from his native land, and one whose 
life has been a tljpusand times in the most imminent 
peril — one who has no kindred at hand save an only 
daughter, and of such an age — and you may form 
some idea of the embrace with which the Colonel 
pressed Cora to his heart. 

Then go with me to the heart of a mother, whose 
first-born is gamboling beneath the shade of her 
brow, while her sweet little sister sleeps beneath 
dark, green sod. Mark the mother, how closely 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


15 


she watches every movement, and then you have 
but a faint glimmer of a mother’s love. 

Thirty years prior to the time alluded to, Mis- 
souri was admitted into the Union as a slave State. 
The Colonel, by his marriage with his lady, became 
the master and owner of a black family of some 
fourteen persons, or, as they are more familiarly 
called in Missouri, fourteen ‘‘negroes.” For the 
present, I will only speak of Dixie, a mulatto girl, 
about fifteen years of age, the immediate body serv- 
ant of Mrs. S , and nurse of Cora. 

I was a guest at the house of the Colonel in the 
beginning of the summer of 1850. Late one even- 
ing my attention was called to the unusually quick 
steps and glaring eyes of Dixie, as she approached 
her mistress, when the following conversation en- 
sued : 

Mrs. S. Where is Cora? 

Dixie, She come home, missis. 

Mrs. S. You lying spawn, she has not come 
home ; I have been watching the road all the time. 
Where is she, I say ? Tell me, quick ! 

Dixie. I — I — I — went to sleep, missis. 

The mystery was soon revealed. Dixie and Cora 
had gone off to gather flowers on the prairie. 
Dixie, true to the custom of her race, had lain down 
to take a nap, and Cora, in search of the enticing 
flowers, had wandered off and lost her way. 

All was bustle and confusion for a time ; horses 


16 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


were saddled ; neighbors were called ; I was soon 
in my saddle ; a company of some forty men were 
soon collected ; tin horns paraded, and guns pro- 
vided; and then a general rendezvous, after which 
we separated into several parties, agreeing, if either 
party found the child, the others were to be warned 
by the firing of guns, blowing of horns, etc. 

Then, o’er hill and dale, through brush and swamp, 
we dashed off, each and every one anxious to win 
the prize. Fields, prairies, and woods were crossed 
in every direction. I was with a small party, the 
Colonel being one of our party. We looked into 
the most intricate places, listening ever and anon 
for horn or gun. But, alas ! no sound disturbed the 
silent wind. Still, on and on we pursued our course, 
until the day no longer lent its friendly aid. A dark 
cloud was gathering in the western horizon ; black 
night was gently drawing her mantle o’er the broad 
and beautiful prairies. All parties were slowly and 
sadly returning. The Colonel and I were the last. 

I shall never forget the looks of that mother ! 
It was now dark, and deathly still ; the storm thick, 
fast gathering, and on the eve of bursting upon us. 
The last hope of that mother lingered faintly on our 
return. I would have given every thing I possessed 
in the world, to have returned the child to the 
mother. But fate compelled us to return with empty 
hands. Who but a mother can fathom the feelings 
of the heart that heat in the breast of that woman, 
as she clasped her hands and exclaimed : 

‘‘ 0, my God ! my child is lost ! ” 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


17 


CHAPTER II. 

Ah ! poor Dixie, awoke too late; 

But to receive and lament her fate. 

Fatal as the sun-stroke upon a feverish brain, 
deadly as a poison asp to the bosom of the oriental 
queen, this unexpected stroke fell upon the joy of a 
confiding mother. Through the long vigils of the 
night, the moaning of the mother, the pattering of 
rain, the low, dead sound of distant thunder, chased 
away coaxing sleep from dull and heavy eyes. 
Welcome as the year of jubilee to the Egyptian 
bondman was the first ray of light that broke upon 
the eastern horizon. The new day brought new 
scenes. The Colonel on yesterday showed no lack 
of nerve ; to-day he was sad and inactive. The 
mother, on the contrary, rose to the duties of her 
mission, to fill the sphere marked out by Heaven for 
her sex. Thus it is ever, when man is overcome 
with grief, and ready to lie down in despair, woman 
rises up, like a guardian angel, \ in the last day, to 
whisper comfort in the ear of the lords of creation. 
He who has not heard, in the dark hour of trouble, 
the soft voice of woman, knows not her mission. 

2 * 


18 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


Mrs. S lost no time in making every prepara- 

tion, in fitting out the different parties to start in 
fresh pursuit of Cora. She also seemed to take into 
consideration the circumstances under which she was 
lost. And in the general hustle I observed that 

Mrs. S had Dixie tied with a rope, and was 

drawing her up to a small tree in the yard, for 
chastisement. Now, 't so happened that there was a 
negro-trader in the neighborhood, who had taken a 
fancy to Dixie, and had offered the Colonel a thou- 
sand dollars for her, which he was disposed to take; 
but the sale had been prevented by her mistress. 
The Colonel seldom chastised his slaves with the 
rod; he was unrelenting in his feelings for disobe- 
dience, and proposed the sale of Dixie as a better 

punishment. Mrs. S gave her consent, but said ' 

that she would whip her first, if it was the last act 
of her life. And, accordingly, Dixie was chastised 
and sold. 

I was much amused at the conversation of two 
'Common men of the neighborhood, who, for brevity^ 
we will call Jeff and Abe. They held a low and 
interesting conversation upon the subject of Dixie’s 
treatment, to which I paid particular attention, and 
shall never forget. It was as follows : 

Ahe. Poor, down-trodden African ! how long shall 
he groan beneath the tyranny of his master ? 

Jeff. The happiest people, as a race, upon the 
face of God’s earth; at least, that portion of them 
who are in this country, enslaved. 

Abe. According to the constitution of man, there 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


19 


is no real happiness to be found outside of the in- 
vigorating name of Liberty. 

Jeff. Ah ! liberty ! What is liberty ? Has a man 
the liberty to take his neighbor’s goods ? has a sub- 
ject the liberty to insult the king? has a private 
man the liberty to assume official station ? has a 
soldier the liberty 4o go to sleep on his post — a 
crime punished with death by military law? And is 
this not a similar case? Dixie slept on her post, 
and let destruction come to her charge. Her sen- 
tence is milder than that of a soldier. 

Ahe. Yes ; but I speak of constitutional liberty : 
the liberty to pursue happiness ; the liberty to obey 
the laws of one’s country. 

Jeff. That I understand to be the liberty of the 
white man ; the liberty of the sane man ; the liberty 
of the adult ; not the liberty of the minor, the 
negro, the Indian, or the idiot. 

Ahe. Ah ! Dixie’s father was a white man. By 
what unknown law in metaphysics do you deprive 
the child of the inheritance of the father. ’T is not 
on our statute-books. 

Jeff. In the language of the English poet: 


'‘From nature's chain, whatever link you strike, 
Tenth, or ten-thousandth, breaks the chain alike.” 


A mule is the colt of a horse ; yet a mule is not a 
horse. 

Ahe. The ass is of a different species from the 
horse. There is but one species of the human 


20 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


family, differing only in the color of the skin, as a 
•white horse or a black horse. 

Jeff. I know you think so ; but there is a very 
wide difference, both in body and mind. 

Ahe. The colored man has been borne down with 
slavery from generation to generation, and kept in 
ignorance, until servitude and abuse have made him 
inferior in mind; he is not inferior in body. 

Jeff. So far as regards physical strength, the 
negro is not inferior to the white man ; yet he is of 
a different temperament: he can endure more heat, 
but not so much cold ; he is the native of a warm 
climate — naturally very indolent ; yet he is capable 
of enduring much labor ; but he will not labor of his 
own accord ; he prefers ease of body to ease of 
mind ; he takes no thought for the future, and, if he 
lived not with the white man, he would go back into 
barbarism. 

Ahe. You do n’t argue the question fairly ; you 
strike a blow at half of creation with the word 
“negro;” your theory condemns a man to eternal 
servitude for one drop of blood. 

Jeff. I condemn no man for the place of his birth. 
It may be unfortunate to be born in Rome. I know 
it is unfortunate to be born in the kitchen. The 
decrees of fate are beyond the control of man. 

Ahe. My Bible teaches me that the human family 
are the descendants of Adam, having a common 
origin and a common destiny. Give me one Bible, 
one God, one religion, one people, and one liberty. 

Jeff. I know you think so; but that has never 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


21 


been, and is not now, the history of man. He has 
now several Bibles, different gods, a variegated relig- 
ion, five or six peoples, and no such thing as one 
liberty. 

Ahe. Ah ! but is not our great mission upon earth 
to convert the heathen, to reform governments, to 
teach that all men are brothers, to “ do unto others 
as you would have them do unto you ?” 

Jeff. To do unto others as you would have 
them (under similar circumstances) do unto you,” is 
the best understanding of that passage of the 
Scripture. St. Paul, in the conversion of the wicked, 
meddled not with governments, or with master and 
servant. You would reform the fathers of the 
Church. 

Abe. We live in a progressive age; darkness and 
barbarism must give way before the light of freedom 
and religion ; weights from all shoulders will be re- 
moved in this generation. 

Jeff. We will see. 


22 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


CHAPTER III. 

0 woodsman 1 wind that horn again, 

High on the breeze, with heavenly strain ; 

No sound so sweet to faltering ear — 

To anxious hearts no sound so dear. 

Thick as the locusts of Egypt, thoughts crowded 
through the brain of those most deeply interested 
as to the whereabouts of Cora. The country had 
been diligently searched for five miles around, and 
many of the neighbors had given up in despair. 

The sun was mounting the eastern horizon ; the 
clouds grew thin and scattered far away ; the breeze 
of the morning, cooled by the late rain, invigorated 
both horse and man. The Colonel had engaged 
some of the most expert woodsmen to make further 
search, who had set out upon their mission, taking 
a north-west course. In company with the Colonel, 
I soon followed, we having determined to penetrate 
the territory; for the Colonel was of opinion that 
some foul play had been enacted by some of the 
settlers of that virgin soil. And while we pursue — 
a few miles in the rear of our party — let us turn and 
listen to a conversation between Mrs. S and Aunt 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


23 


Patsie, a neighbor woman that had come to comfort 
the distressed mother as far as she could. Aunt 
Patsie was a very peculiar person. She could tell 
you the birthday, without a moment’s reflection, of 
every child that had been born in the circle of her 
acquaintance for the last thirty years; she could 
tell the day of every battle of the Revolution ; and, 
when a little excited upon religious topics, she could 
describe, in minute detail, the individual character 
of each of the twelve Apostles. It is said that Ar- 
temus Ward can hatch more curiosity than any man 
in America : but arouse Aunt Patsie’s bump of in- 
quisitiveness, and get her head set on curiosity, and 
she could hatch Artemus Ward. Mrs. S , there- 

fore, was hopeful that Aunt Patsie could, in some 
way, account for the disappearance of her lovely and 
innocent child. 

Aunt Patsie said : “ The weather being warm, she 
could not have suffered with cold ; the rain being 
hard, she might have fallen into some stream and 
drowned. The dark, rainy night must have fright- 
ened the poor little creature ; but I never knew one 
of so tender age to die of fear. Indeed,” continued 
Aunt Patsie, a prairie-wolf might undertake to eat 
a child of that age ; a hungry wolf is a desperate 
animal, and they sometimes go in gangs.” 

Mrs. S thought of the story of Romulus and 

Remus, who were, when infants, thrown into the 
river Tiber, in a basket, and afterward rescued and 
suckled by a wolf ; and her imagination pictured the 
wolves fondling with her sweet little pet. “ 0, they 


24 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN I 


could not ! ” and the anxious mother wrung he? 
hands. 

Aunt Patsie raised her spectacles, and rubbed her 
hand over her forehead, as she said: tell you 

what it is, Jane: my Tom saw two Indians skulking 
along yesterday morning, and I will bet my salva- 
tion they have taken that child,’’ 

0, my God ! no — no ! ” and Mrs. S prayed 

secretly for relief from the prophetess. 

I was conversing with the Colonel upon the 
dangers to which the sweet little Cora was sub- 
jected. We had just emerged from a deep ravine 
of timbered land, and entered the border of a broad 
and beautiful prairie, when the Colonel suddenly 
checked his horse. His countenance told me that 
some distant messenger had met his ear. No word 
was spoken ; we paused a few moments in breath- 
less silence : then came the sound of the woodsman’s 
horn, in clear and distinct notes, o’er the broad- 
spread plain before us. “ They have found her,” 
said I to the Colonel, as we sped off in the direc- 
tion of the welcome horn. We soon neared the 
party, and were doomed to disappointment ; for we 
were only greeted with the bonnet and apron of 
little Cora, or what was supposed to be hers. 

We were now across the State line and in Kan- 
sas Territory, near the domicile of a man who bore 
the Colonel a certain deadly hatred. And, notwith- 
standing one of the party had been informed by said 
man that he knew nothing of Cora or any other lost 
child, the Colonel said the child could not have been 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


25 


so near the premises without some knowledge of the 
family; and proposed putting said man to the tor- 
ture until he should tell the truth. As I had some 
doubts of the identity of the bonnet, etc., and think- 
ing that a little time would probably give us some 
clue to this bonnet, I told the Colonel and party a 
short but true story upon circumstantial evidence. 
It is as follows : 

On the border of a Western State lived an aged 
man, highly respected and wealthy, the father 
of an only daughter — who at that time was about 
seventeen years of age, and very beautiful — by the 
name of Minnie. There was a young man in the 
neighborhood by the name of Hardin, who had been 
raised by a mechanic in humble circumstances in 
life. Minnie and Hardin had been play and school- 
mates from childhood. A certain thing that the old 
gentleman called pu'p-love had grown with their 
growth and strengthened with their strength. The 
old gentleman, not liking the course of events, for- 
bade young Hardin the prerogative of his premises. 
Minnie was a dutiful child, and would not disobey 
her father ; yet she met Hardin at a certain place 
by the road-side, where they had many long and in- 
teresting interviews. At last, one day, young Har- 
din, not liking to remain where circumstances so 
oppressed him, said to Minnie : Your father objects 
to me because I am poor. I will seek fame and for- 
tune in a distant land. When I have gained the 
requisite recommendations, I will come to your fa- 
ther’s house and claim what I have the right and 
3 


26 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


honor to claim/’ And Minnie and her lover parted, 
with aching hearts and flooded eyes. 

A steamer was advertised to depart from the coast 
the next morning. 

Hardin went to the neighboring village and put 
up at an inn, where he had been much in the habit 
of stopping. Now, it so happened that the same 
night there came to the inn a certain mule-driver, 
and called for lodging. The inn being crowded, the 
landlord petitioned Hardin to admit the mule-driver 
to share his bed and room, to which Hardin con- 
sented. The two were soon after lighted by the 
landlord, up an outside flight of stairs, to Hardin’s 
little room. While preparing to retire, the mule- 
driver took a fancy to Hardin’s watch, for which he 
effected a trade by giving Hardin his watch and a 
few dollars in money; and, to use a Western phrase, 
they both turned in.” The mule-driver soon fell 
asleep. But this was not the case with Hardin : he 
thought of Minnie ; he thought of his voyage ; he 
thought of the day of his return ; he thought of 
days gone by, and of the many long and tedious 
seasons that he had loved, so dearly loved, his Min- 
nie. He could not sleep ; nay, he could not lie 
still ; and, bordering on distraction, he arose, intend- 
ing to spend the remainder of the night on the road 
to the steamer, and thus left the mule-driver all 
alone. 

Now, it so happened that a robber had been watch- 
ing the mule-driver, for it was supposed that he had 
money. This robber, in ambush, saw the mule-driver 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


27 


lighted up to his room, and he saw the retreat of 
young Hardin, when he mentally exclaimed, Ye 
gods ! a glorious opportunity ! ” Then, silently and 
unseen, he approached the stairway and gently as- 
cended. A light pressure upon the door, which had 
been left unfastened by Hardin, turned it slowly 
upon its hinges, and he entered the room ; then 
paused to listen ; no sound met his ear save the 
deep slumber of his victim ; a whole eternity passed 
through his mind in a moment ! An aged man lay 
before him, in the soft and sweet embrace of sleep; 
the night breeze, as it rustled through the silver 
locks upon his temples, told of the many years he 
had labored for his money ; the pale moon glim- 
mered through the lattice of the window, and showed 
the assassin where to strike. He grasped the han- 
dle of a polished blade with his right hand, and 
slowly drew it from its scabbard, as he gently raised 
his left hand to his brow to hide his countenance 
from the God of heaven. Suddenly plunging for- 
ward, he struck the fatal blow ; then, one death- 
struggle, one deep moan, and all was still, save the 
trickling of the dead man’s blood. 

The assassin hastily searched his coffers, and 
again sped away with cautious feet. As he neared 
the bottom of the stairway, the iron tongue of Time 
told the dark, dead hour of night, and the pulse of 
the town was still. 

The moon was sinking in the west, 

The night-hawk sought a place of rest; 

The clouds of night, with quick’ning speed, 

Hidv a devilish villain’s deed. 


28 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


And he sped to the brushwood. Morning came ; 
the dead man was found ; the landlord told how and 
where he had left him. Suspicion fell upon young 
Hardin. Pursuit was made ; the steamer had not 
yet sailed The watch of the mule-driver being found 
with young Hardin, the manner in which he left the 
town, was the circumstantial evidence against him, 
under which he was tried, condemned, and executed. 

Minnie, knowing nothing of the innocence or guilt 
of her lover, died of a broken heart. 

Five years after the above transactions, this same 
robber was taken, tried, and condemned to hang, for 
the murder of another man. He wrote in his con- 
fession that the mule-driver was the first man he 
ever murdered. 

By this time we received satisfactory information 
that the bonnet and apron belonged to a little girl 
in the neighborhood, who had lost them on her 
return home from school. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


29 


CHAPTER IV. 

Fate 1 ah, mysterious Fate, thou sneaking ape of time j who art 
thou, that write the lives of men without their leave, and stamp 
^ne record with thine own image ? 

Misfortunes seldom come single-handed ; but when 
once set in, they seem to follow each other in swift 
succession, as though they were trying how much 
one can bear ; like Satan, when he afflicted the pa- 
triarch Job, they seem to try one experiment after 
another, until a man is borne down with grief ; but 
a life’s experience has taught me that it is generally 
for our good. 

Colonel S had made extensive preparations 

to go to California in search of gold, a thing he had 
no need of under the sun, for he possessed a fine 
plantation and plenty of servants. That he was not 
satisfied can only be accounted for by the declara- 
tion of Jeremiah, the Hebrew prophet, that ^‘man 
is strange, and wonderfully made.” A few days be- 
fore his appointed time to start, the accident of the 
loss of Cora had occurred, which interrupted all his 
arrangements, for the time being. 

3 * 


30 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


The last lingering ray of light faltered in the 
west; the broad mantle of night slowly and calmly 
covered the Western home of the Border Ruffian. 
A light tap with the knuckles upon the door — which, 
in the West, takes the place of the alarm-bell — an- 
nounced the arrival of a stranger. A moment 
after, his old friend Mingo was admitted, who left 
him one year previously for the land of gold. The 
low, deep cunning that lingered in the corners of 
Mingo’s mouth told the sadness of his tale. But 
we will let him tell it in his own fashion, with a 
■vow that it was as true as the first chapter of Mat- 
thew : 

“ After we got out upon the plains, we thought 
all creation was going to California. The road was 
lined with a moving caravan as far as the eye could 
reach, before or behind; and all seemed to press 
forward with an indecent haste. After some days’ 
travel, it was evident that many teams were failing ; 
sliock would weary and fall, and be left to die by the 
road-side. By the loss of teams, wagons also had 
to be left. Dead animals, deserted wagons, and 
new-made graves began to line the road. Nor Avas 
this all. Indiscreet men, as their teams began to 
fail, would throw out a portion of their provision to 
make the load lighter. Bacon, flour, cheese, crack- 
ers, we frequently met with on the road, but, Avhat is 
very remarkable, we never found either whisky or 
tobacco. 

“We were at last much frightened by the number 
of new-made graves. They were everywhere to bo 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


31 


seen. Many a poor gold-hunter found his last rest- 
ing-pWce upon that broad and desolate plain, separ- 
ated from home and friends — and, in many cases, from 
a loving wife and little children — and laid with hasty 
hands into a new-made grave, with a blanket for a 
shroud, and the cold, damp earth for a coffin. It is 
strange how heedless one walks above the dead. On 
the night of the twenty-first day of our journey, I 
slumbered heavily, and was awakened about daylight 
by Picayune, who was very sick. This was the first 
misfortune we had met. We applied immediately to 
our n’.edicines, but all to no effect; he grew worse 
and Morse, until, at last, we closed his eyes upon the 
scenes of earth. I chiseled, as well as I could, the 
letters of his name upon a rough stone, and placed 
it at bis head, and left him, with the prayer that the 
keeper of all the dead would guard his resting-place. 

Burtice separated from me in California. I after- 
ward understood that he was unfortunately wounded 
by a Chinaman, and I suppose he is dead. When I 
got into the mines I found we had to wash so much 
dirt to get the gold, my soap soon gave out. I was 
not able to undergo the bodily fatigue. I could not 
dig like a ground-hog, and wash like a widow w'oman, 
with half a dozen starving brats gazing into the tub, 
watching the bubbles on the suds, expecting them to 
burst into loaves of bread. Being sick, Milo started 
home Avith me by Avater, but long before we arrived 
at the port of our destination, he, poor fellow, had 
to give up his last cares of the world, and w^as 
silently committed to the bosom of the deep. And 


32 THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 

here am I, with less gold than I had when I 
started.” 

And Mingo, after receiving some presents from 
Colonel S , went home to his family. 

I said to the Colonel : It is not all gold that glit- 
ters ; a prize is magnified when it is far away ; we 
eagerly seek it in the distance ; the thorns and briers 
that lie in the pathway are overlooked ; and we are 
apt to rush headlong to some distant object, when it 
would be better for us to take up, with cautious hands, 
those things that God and nature have placed in our 
way, and, with a cheerful heart, be contented with 
an honest living.” 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


33 


CHAPTER V. 

Conscience ! what art thou ? Thou tremendous power 1 
Who dost inhabit us without our leave, 

And act within ourselves another self, 

A master- self, that loves to domineer. 

And treat the monarch frankly as the slave : 

How dost thou light a torch to distant deeds 1 
Make the past, present, and the future frown ! 

How, ever and anon, awake the soul. 

As with a peal of thunder, to strange horrors. 

In this long, restless dream, which idiots hug — 

Nay, wise men flatter with the name of life 1 

Edward Young. 


The golden leaves of the forest rustled on the 
ground ; the low, still winds from the west drove 
the prairie-hens to the fields ; the burning grass on 
the prairies announced the approach of autumn. 
Another long and dreary summer had passed away. 

Since the loss of Cora, Mrs. S had been the 

constant inmate of her room, and her health, by this 
time, had so declined that the Colonel determined 
to call in a physician. 

Pr. p lived at some distance ; but, for his 

large experience and popular name, the Colonel was 
induced to send for him. I shall never forget the 


34 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


bearing and demeanor of this extraordinary man. 
A man of few words, with grave and stern coun- 
tenance, with iron firmness of purpose, he seemed to 
look through human nature as though he understood 
the secret spring of life. 

I was anxious to hear the Doctor’s opinion of 

Mrs. S ; for her case, to me, had appeared most 

singular. You can not imagine my surprise when, 
after an examination during which the Doctor asked 
a great many questions, he remarked to the Colonel, 
in slow and measured tones : “ I do not believe 
I can help her without the aid of mesmerism.” 
This was new to us, and unexpected. The Colonel 
made strong objections to his lady being made the 
subject of an experiment. The Doctor coolly re- 
marked : Then she must be made the subject of a 
graveyard.” 

After a long pause, the Doctor wisely remarked 
that it could do her no harm. After a long private 
conversation between the Doctor and the Colonel, 
they decided to try the experiment, much to the 
gratification of, at least, my curiosity. 

As this part of the story must here take the ap- 
pearance of a romance rather than the faithful record 

of historical facts, I must let Mrs. S tell her 

own story, as she related it to others, at the time : 

“ I had been suffering with a dumb headache for 
several days, without the least intermission. When 

Dr. D made the ^ passes ’ before my face, it 

seemed to me, for a moment, that my head was 
bursting — every thing before me began to dance and 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 35 

disappear. I recollect nothing more. When I was 
aroused to consciousness, my head was free from 
pain, and I felt much relieved. When I was told by 
the Doctor and other persons present that, while in 
the mesmeric state, I had conversed upon various 
subjects quite rationally, and that I was very inter- 
esting in conversation, I was surprised; but when 
they told me that I had conversed with, and told 
them where Cora was, I did not believe the testi- 
mony of my own husband. I thought I was the 
victim of a joke. 

But when Dr. D made the ^ passes ’ the 

second time, they seemed to throw down the wall 
that stood between my two selves. I spoke of my 
old self in the third person, and said : ‘ She is a 
cold and careless mother/ My new self saw and 
conversed with Cora. She told me that she was with 
very nice people. I told her that I did not want 
her to come home ; that I had rather she would stay 
where she was, and learn how to work, and go to the 
church, and get religion. I told her that I would 
not stay here ; that I was going away, and that very 
soon ; and her father would not take her to church, 
for he was a cold man of the world. 

“ When Dr. D made the ‘ passes,’ and I was 

again awakened, I had some faint idea of my two 
selves — an inkling of that inner consciousness, which 
seemed but a shadow of the mind. Yet the whole 
universe could not convince me that there does not 
dwell within ourselves another self, more spiritual, 
more lively, more conscious — a tenant of this 


36 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


mortal clay far superior to our waking conscious- 
ness.” 

When Dr. D returned the next day, after what 

had transpired, Mrs. S was unwilling to undergo 

the operation again. The Colonel also objected, as, 
when she was in the mesmeric state, she would talk 
constantly of Cora, which called to her waking hours, 
and also to the mind of the Colonel, most sad and 
gloomy reflections. 

Now, the strangest part of this whole story is, 

that Mrs. S , for a few days, was very positive 

that mesmerism was no deception, and that she had 
realized, done, and said all that was said of her ; but 
in one week she denied the whole affair, and said 
that she was imposed upon, and that she had no 
faith in mesmerism. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


87 


CHAPTER VI. 

Time 1 thou venerable sire, and mysterious harvest-hand ! who 
gave you that old scythe, that never needs the whetting-stone, yet 
will not cut the thread of fate, or wound the gods? Is that thine 
only tool, thou builder of towns and cities, founder of governments 
and nations, and father of the arts and sciences ? No mortal eye 
hath seen thy cradle ; none shall see thy grave. 

Five mortal years had lived and died since the 
loss of Cora, and no tidings of her had been received. 
The American States were prosperous and happy; 
emigrants were flocking to the West by thousands ; 
Kansas was preparing to make her d^hut into the 
sisterhood of States. Missouri, jealous of the as- 
pirations of her young sister, voluntarily assumed 
the task of arranging her wardrobe. But the maiden 
Queen of the West was disposed to listen to flatter- 
ers ! Missouri would, indeed, clothe her in a white 
robe ; but her flatterers would trim it with a black 
ribbon. 

It was given out that emigrants from the North 
were flocking to Kansas to make her a free State 
under the Douglas policy, who had no thought of 
making Kansas their home. This opportunity was 
4 


38 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN } 


also eagerly embraced by Missourians. A law had 
been enacted in Kansas allowing all tax-payers to 
vote. The poll-tax being only one dollar upon each 
head, any one could vote that could pay that tax. 

Parties from Missouri were fitted out for no other 
purpose than to go to Kansas, vote for some pro- 
slavery man, and return. It was on one of these 
occasions, when a party was preparing to start to 
Kansas for that purpose, with the Colonel at their 
head, that my attention was again called to another 
conversation between Jeff and Abe. It ran as fol- 
lows : 

Ahe. I think it is very unfair for those Missou- 
rians to go to Kansas for no other purpose than to 
try to make her a slave State. 

Jeff. I have heard an old saying that “ it is as 
fair for the goose as the gander.” The Free-State 
people are doing the same thing. 

Abe. But slavery ought not to be extended. 

Jeff. That is only a difference in opinion. Free- 
State men think one way, and Slave-State men think 
the other. 

Ahe. But the Free-State men are right; they act 
upon the principles of justice and equal rights. 

Jeff. 1 know that you think so ; but why take the 
territory from the Indians and give it to the negroes ? 

Ahe. To make it a free State is not giving it to 
the negroes. 

Jeff. Your doctrine will lead to that. Confine the 
western emigration of slavery to the borders of 
Missouri, make all the territory west free, and in 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


39 


twenty years your new States will be governed by the 
negroes. 

Ahe, That is bare assertion. Where is the free 
State that is governed by the “negroes,” as you 
call them ? 

Jeff, The negroes at present are in better busi- 
ness ; but open the virgin soil west with freedom to 
the negro, and he will leave his master in Missouri, 
and seek a shelter among you ; politicians will favor 
him, and, under the majority form of elections, he 
will command the balance of power. That is what 
I mean by “ governing.” 

Ahe. Yes ; but if we do not extend to him the 
right of suffrage ? 

Jeff, Then you repudiate yoiir doctrine, and had 
better let him remain in slavery. 

Ahe, We can take him out of slavery, and not 
extend to him citizenship. 

Jeff, There is no middle ground ; no half-way 
house. You would enslave him to the nation, in- 
stead of individuals. What is the difference ? 

Ahe, In what manner would that enslave him to 
the nation ? 

Jeff, Deprive a man of citizenship, give him no 
voice in the laws that are to govern him, and what 
is he but a slave ? 

Ahe, He is still at liberty to work for whom he 
pleases, and regulate, in part, his own wages. 

Jeff, What is a sterner master than necessity? 
The slave that defrauds necessity, defrauds himself, 
and not his master. 


40 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


Abe. Then you would make all poor men slaves. 

Jeff. They are, in the sense you mention; but, 
while they are the slaves of necessity, they are free- 
men, because they are citizens, and have a voice in 
the laws of their country, and the way is open to 
them to rise above necessity. If they have the per- 
sonal merit, they may rise to the first gift that is in 
the people of the nation. The man who is not a 
citizen can not rise, because that barrier is impassa- 
ble ; it hangs before the eyes of energy like a dark 
cloud of misery, through which no fugitive can 
pierce. 

Abe. Honesty compels me to acknowledge that the 
prejudice against the black man, on account of color, 
will have to give way ; and it will, in time : he must 
and will become a citizen. 

Jeff. Then you make no difference between anti- 
slavery men ; their disputes are but a question of 
time ! 

Abe. E-x-a-c-t-l-y ! There is, however, another 
view of the subject ; some anti-slavery men are for 
sending them out of the country, or forming a gov- 
ernment for them somewhere on the continent. 

Jeff. To send them out of the country ! There is 
not one in fifty that would be willing to go ; besides, 
if sent to themselves, they would come to no good ; 
and, if governed by a portion of the whites, they 
would be little better still than slaves. As to settling 
them on the continent — to make a nation within a 
a nation — first, it w^ould be gross injustice to deprive 
any portion of the white race of their territory for 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


41 


that or any other purpose ; secondly, the black na- 
tion would be but the slave of the white. What you 
condemn in individuals, you would inaugurate in 
nations. What is the difference ? 

Abe. You talk very fairly. But slavery can not 
be justified ; it is wrong in nature ; man is not a 
beast. God gave man dominion over all the beasts 
of the fields ; the fishes in the sea ; the fowls in the 
air ; but to man over man he gave no dominion. 

You would make heaven on earth. I fear it 
is a dangerous experiment. As to your quotation 
from the Bible, I will satisfy you with the Bible be- 
fore we get through. 

Ahe. No, I would not do so ; but I would have 
man to follow the course marked out for him by the 
God of the Universe, 

Jeff. Your doctrine would bring all people under 
one government. Would you separate Church and 
State ? 

Ahe. We will speak of that at another time ; for 
the present, I am more concerned for the Missouri- 
ans. They will get into trouble in Kansas. I had 
rather see this business settled peaceably. 

Jeff. I have much to say upon the subject yet, and 
hope that you will seriously reflect upon it. 

4 * 


42 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


CHAPTER VII. 

On a hot and dusty day in August, Colonel S 

•called at a certain house in Kansas for a drink of 
"Water. A pitcher of water was handed him by a 
girl some ten years of age. 

Kind reader ! behold a thirsty man, with a pitcher 
of cold water in one hand, the other resting upon a 
Tail of the fence, gazing, with that intensity of look 
with which the serpent charms the bird, upon a 

meek, half-grown woman, and you see Colonel S 

looking at Cora. Five years had fled since he be- 
held that beautiful child, and, as unexpected as an 
u.ngel from heaven, she stood before him, in all the 
simplicity of her beauty. Could he be mistaken ? 
The outlines of those ruby lips, upon which he had 
impressed thousands of kisses, were there ; the long, 
hlack lashes that shaded those crystal blue eyes, 
which had so often looked upon him with childish 
love, were there ; the same golden ringlets, that 
time had lengthened and care improved, clustered 
round the face of the beautiful maiden. Colonel 

S trembled. Cora, unconscious of the earnest 

gaze of her father, modestly traced the hem of her 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


43 


apron with one hand, while with the other she 
plucked the blushing blossoms from a rose-bush that 
stood by the yard-fence. She started with surprise 
when the Colonel asked her name. 

My name is Cora, but they call me Betty,” she 
modestly replied. 

When prudence masters passion, when all the ele- 
ments of our nature submit to will, it is then the 
great monitor of the mind is revealed : it is then we 
are reminded of the doctrine of the great Teacher, 
‘‘ What will it profit a man to gain the whole world, 
and lose his own soul?” 

Colonel S knew the danger of making him- 

self known at the time, even to his own child. How 
she had been taken there — the disposition of those 
people toward her — what idea she had of her pa- 
rents and home — were all questions to be ap- 
proached with great caution and delicacy. But, 
fully satisfied that this lovely maiden was his Cora, 
he could not refrain from asking a few more ques- 
tions, and the following conversation ensued : 

‘‘Does your father live here?” 

“No, sir; my father is dead, and my mother, too.” 

“ Where did they formerly live ? ” 

“ In Missouri ; a long way from here.” 

“How long have you lived here?” 

“Ever since my father and mother were killed.” 

“ Who killed your father and mother ? ” 

“ Snake-sheed and Dart-feather.” 

“ And who brought you here ? ” 

“ Snake-sheed and Dart-feather.” 


44 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


Where did they get you ? ” 

“ They killed Dixie, and went home and killed 
father and mother, and were going to kill me, and 
then they brought me here.” 

Cora’s bosom was heaving, and her eyes were 
full. The Colonel saw that it would not do to pro- 
long the conversation, and he only added : “ Do they 
treat you well at this home?” and Cora replied, 
‘‘Not very.” 

The Colonel turned to join his party wuth a joyful, 
but, at the same time, a heavy heart. The election 
was the next day, and they had thirty miles to 
travel. 

The Colonel’s party had murmured, one to an- 
other, like the apostles of Jesus: “Why talks he 
with the woman?” The Colonel had said, in his 
heart : “ I have a well of water, springing up into 
eternal life.” But he kept his own counsel. 

And off the party dashed aw*ay for the precinct. 

Cora returned to her silent work, brooding over 
the mysterious conduct of the stranger. She had 
grown old enough to realize the fact that people do 
not always tell the truth ; and it perhaps entered her 
mind, for the first time, that her parents still lived. 
For long and weary hours she pondered over the 
actions of Snake-sheed and Dart-feather; she called 
to mind all she had ever heard of the Indian charac- 
ter ; and she half knew her father ; but why he had 
so unceremoniously left, she could not divine: but 
her mind was opened to a new train of reflections. 

Colonel S and party had accomplished their 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


45 


mission in Kansas, which was to vote at a certain 
election. On the return home, many of the party 
could hot be detained. The Colonel, taking into his 
confidence Burtice, of California notoriety, and a few' 
other friends, determined to remain a few days in 
the neighborhood of Cora’s Kansas home, and take 
her back to Missouri ; for law was a thing talked of 
at this time in Kansas, but seldom put in force, ex- 
cepting the law of power. Certain citizens of that 
virgin soil bore a deadly hatred to all Missourians ; 
and it was evident that Cora was dwelling with one 
of that class. Burtice was selected by the party as 
the most suitable person to go to the place of Cora’s 
residence, in disguise, and ascertain how matters 
stood. 

It was evening, and the sun was down, as Burtice 
approached a hewed-log house that stood in a skirt 
of timber not far from the waters of Owl Creek. 
When met at the door, by a tall and bony man, he 
made application to remain with him over night ; 
being refused, he insisted, complaining of being very 
tired. His external appearance was that of a New 
Englander, and the Major took Burtice for one of 
his own countrymen ; so he finally consented to 
keep him all night. 

“ I guess this is a fine country for keows,” said 
Burtice, as the Major -welcomed him to a seat. 
Burtice played off upon the Major entirely to his 
satisfaction, with the exception of one thing — he 
could get no interview with Cora. So he returned 
to the Colonel with the following information : 


46 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


That two Indians had brought the child there 
some five years previous, and openly acknowledged 
that they had stolen her from Missouri; that the 
Major had coaxed the child away from them; that 
he sent her to school, and was much attached to her, 
and said he would not give her up, even to her owm 
father, were he to come ; and that the Major believed 
the story of the Indians, as above related by Cora, 
or pretended to believe it; that Cora was attached 
to some of the Major’s family, was evident to 
Burtice. 

“ A private interview must be had with Cora/’ 
said the Colonel, firmly. 

Burtice said he had not been upon a fool’s er- 
rand ; that he had left his watch in the room where 
he slept, designedly ; that he would return some 
time the same day for its recovery, at which time 
he hoped that a more favorable opportunity w^ould 
present itself for an interview with Cora, 

The watch was returned to Burtice by the hand 
of Cora : he whispered in her ear, Dixie,” and the 
name of her mother, and that he desired a private 
interview with her. He obtained it before he left 
the premises, by an artful arrangement of Cora. 

Burtice left, assuring Cora that he w^ould be at the 
end of a certain lane that night, at a certain hour, 
to meet her. Cora returned to her occupation and 
to her reflections. 0 God ! could this be a dream, 
or was it reality? How strange it all seemed! 
Busy thoughts crowded each other out of Cora’s 
brain, until night arrived, and with night the crisis. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


47 


It was dark, and Cora trembled. Silently and un- 
seen, she prayed to God to direct her. When she 
raised up from her prayer, she said, mentally, “ My 
mother taught me how to pray so, long ago. I 
will see her, if she is alive, though it cost me my 
life.” And she sped to the end of the lane. 

God bless you ! ” said Burtice, as he threw her 
on his horse, and galloped to the ColoneFs party. 


48 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN: 


CHAPTER VIIL 

The memories of childhood, and young dreams of age, 

Are twin-sister flowers in the mind of the sage. 

Two years prior to the visit of our voting party 
to Kansas, Burtice had returned from California. 
He had made some money, and was now settled on 
a farm in Missouri, the father of a small family, 
the owner of a few slaves, and much interested in 
making Kansas a slave State; said he would make 
a hundred trips to Kansas, and vote every time, if, 
by so doing, that would give a start to the pro-slavery 
men of Kansas. He said : ‘‘ Get the institution once 
planted, and the Northerners would not emigrate to 
the territory, as they abhorred a slave State like 
the devil does holy water. They are raised to be- 
lieve that there is something in slavery repugnant 
to republicanism ; they think a slaveholder is an 
aristocrat, in favor of an aristocracy, with no sym- 
pathy for the laboring class. Poor victims of mis- 
take ! If you can get one of them to live in a slave 
State, you will change him as certain as a tadpole 
turns to a frog. I once knew a young man by the 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


49 


name of Fox, who wedded a lady in a slave State, 
himself having been born and bred in a free State. 
By the union he became the owner of a few slaves. 
He at first said that he didn’t like the ^Union as it 
ivas that he preferred a union of his own, and 
proposed to set the slaves free. But as this created 
some strife in the household, he consented to try the 
‘Union as it was^ It was the custom in that neigh- 
borhood to hire out negroes on the first day of Jan- 
uary. In all slave communities some of the slaves 
have to be hired out, their owners not being in a 
situation to want their labor. ‘ Please God, massa, 
I no want to live dis year wid Mister Fox,’ was the 
universal cry of the negroes that had to be hired 
out. Besides, we have Illinois on the east, Iowa on 
the north, and to have Kansas on the west, Missouri 
will be like a dry stick poked into a hot furnace.” 

By such reflections, the pro-slavery men of Mis- 
souri resorted to extraordinary means to defeat the 
Free-State men of Kansas. 

Burtice had traveled much, and read some ; and 
hear him a little further soliloquize upon the pe- 
culiar institution : 

‘‘ Who are the wise men of the earth that would 
take God’s work in hand, 

And make us live as angels do, 

And fatten on the desert air j 
Would banish vice of every hue, 

And leave us still just as we are ? 

There is no joy of life without labor, and a very 

5 


50 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN,' 


large portion of the human family can not lire with- 
out labor } and he who thinks labor is a great hard- 
ship is much mistaken. It is only the lazy man, 
and one who is not used to labor, that thinks it a 
hardship ; and to him it may be. But to labor is 
the design of nature, and nature^s God. If you 
say that some labor, and others reap the benefit — 
let us see. Take the head of a large family, who, 
perhaps, is not taking hold of labor with his own 
hands, but is diligently looking after the labor of 
his family, who, it is said, labor for him. Observe 
the careworn countenance ; the restless and wakeful 
slumber ; the watchful and diligent eye ; the nice and 
close calculations to make the production of the 
labor of his family meet their necessities. And then 
observe the laborers of his family : mark the gleeful 
laugh, the joyful countenance, and the sweet repose ; 
and then tell me that the father of that family en- 
joys more than they the fruits of their labor, and 
you had as well say 

A moantain mored without a cause. 

Or Nature changed against her laws j 
A blind man sees without his eyes, 

And this at last is no surprise. 

“ The negro slave is one of his master’s family ; 
lie never becomes of age, or free to do and manage 
for himself; he is always a minor, and under the 
care and protection of his master; he is ever joyful 
and contented, being fully aware that he is a minor 
and never becomes of age ; the responsibilities of 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


61 


manhood never enter his brain ; and he lives that 
joyful life of childhood to which the worn-out man 
can turn, in his imagination, and say : 


I am wand’ring back to the days of my childhood — 

The mill, the pasture, and deep-tangled wildwood; 

The orchard, the cellar, and apple that mellows. 

The sound of the horn, and laugh of my fellows. 

The morning’s brief meal, and refreshments at noon, 

The stroll in the wood by the light of the moon ; 

The bath in the river, and fisherman’s line. 

The herding of cattle, and feeding of swine. 

The morning in the field, the song of the lark. 

The evening at the cot, the play at the park ; 

The long nights of winter, and games of the season. 

The fine flow of spirits ne’er tainted with treason. 

The bright days of summer joyfully seen. 

The rove through the garden of flowers serene ; 

The blossoms of spring, and leaves of the fall. 

The sound of the voice of a playmate’s call ; 

The memories of childhood and young dreams of age 
Are twin-sister flowers in the mind of the sage. 

0 sweet path of childhood, flowers of the past! 

1 traverse thee in dreams, and hug thee so fast! 

When day opens eyes, and morning lays cold. 

The gray hairs of age, and sorrows of old, 

I would go back to slumber, live o'er again 
The joys of my youth, forgetting the pain 
Of age, sorrow, perplexities, and strife. 

That shade and darken the last end of life. 

“I hold the doctrine that he who is not a free 
man and a citizen is a minor of the State, and 
ought to have some responsible person held account- 
able for his actions. This will be conceded by 
every true statesman. And he who will not consent 
to recognize the negro as a minor must admit him 


52 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


as a citizen. As Fanny Fern says, ‘That tells the 
whole story.’ 

“ When I was wounded and reported killed, in Cali- 
fornia, and unfortunately separated from my friends, 
without money, and almost dead from loss of blood, 
I was only able to crawl to an old cabin, in an out- 
of-the-way place, the sole mistress of which was an 
old negro woman. She had been a slave in early 
life — in fact, nearly all her life ; had been taken to 
California by her owners, and, through the vicissi- 
tudes of the early struggles there, had been left all 
alone. She made her living by washing for the 
emigrants or gold-hunters. In this hour of darkness 
and desolation she was my only surgeon and nurse. 
I shall never forget the kind attentions of that old 
creature. She told me that for forty years, on her 
old master’s plantation, she had done nothing but 
nurse the sick; and, perhaps, to that experience 
alone I am indebted for my life. She said that the 
raw Africans, several of whom had been brought 
upon her master’s plantation, were universally held 
in contempt by the negroes as being altogether in- 
ferior to the negroes of this country. In fact, the 
many stories that she told me of their inclination to 
barbarism, which are not fit to appear in these 
pages, convinced me that the portion of the African 
race now in this country are infinitely better off 
than their original ancestors, or that portion of the 
race now in their native land. 

“Yet I am not an advocate of the slave-trade; 
not because I think it would be a hardship upon the 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


53 


African, or that it is morally wrong, but that it is 
an injury and a curse to the white people of this 
country ; a bone of contention between individuals 
and between States; the apple of discord and the 
Pandora-box of the State-house ; the canker-worm 
that is gnawing the roots of the tree of Liberty ; the 
raven that is plucking the feathers from the American 
eagle ; the rings of Saturn that eclipse the brilliancy 
of the Star-spangled Banner ; and the fate that is 
wrenching the scepter from the grasp of the Goddess 
of Liberty. 

‘‘If we can manage the Africans among us, I am 
willing to leave the originals to perish in the mire 
of their native land.” 

5 * 


54 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


CHAPTER IX. 

Major Six was the common appellation applied 
to Cora’s Kansas father. It is said he received it 
by the following circumstances : When a boy at 
school he was very contentious with his playmates 
upon all subjects of dispute, and always strenuously 
contended for the decision of the majority, placing 
an undue accent on the first two syllables of the 
word majority; from that circumstance he received 
the name, among the boys, of the Major. And 
when quite a young man he had an unfortunate 
quarrel with a celebrated boxer, who knocked him 
down six times ; and he raised and rushed at his 
antagonist every time, until they were separated by 
some friends ; and from that day he was called 
Major Six. 

Individuals and societies seldom choose the names 
they wear ; and characters often change the names 
of men. 

The flight of Cora did not fully develop itself to 
him until the next morning. His knowledge of the 
West and Western men taught him that pursuit was 
useless ; and he gave vent to his fit of anger by 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 55 

swearing destruction to all Missourians. He said 
that he would take from Missouri a thousand negroes 
to pay for the loss of Cora. 

And from that day Major Six commenced seeking 
followers to persecute Missourians ; and thus we 
leave the Major organizing one of the most formida- 
ble bands that ever shed the blood of a pro-slavery 
man in Kansas. 

While we glance at the residence of Colonel 

S , we find Cora once more happy in her native 

home, though changes around that liome hung over 
her childish memory like a dark and dismal cloud. 
Her mother — that loving mother, the memory of 
whom nerved her trembling limbs in her late flight 
from her prison-house in Kansas — had long since 
been laid in that narrow house that tenants all the 
dead ; and her only solace for that mother was to 
visit, silently and unseen, the place where they had 
laid her. Like Mary of old, on the morning of the 
first day of the week, before it is yet light, she 
goeth to the sepulcher, and there communes with 
the God of all the living. And with her own little 
hands she pressed the crumbling dirt to the roots 
of a rose-bush in that soil resting so lightly upon 
the breast of her earthly parent ; there she dropped 
faithful tears, to sink down to the bony fingers of 
the hand that rested upon her infant brain when her 
mother last called down Heaven’s blessings upon her 
child. Then again her childish heart was gleeful 
and merry. How sweet to visit the places of her 
early and infant sports ! The orchard, the pasture, 


56 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


the garden, the rivulet, and the pond, vere sources 
of unbounded delight. But Dixie — ah ! poor Dixie — 
was gone, the nurse and companion of her child- 
hood. 

In those sad hours of the past Cora’s mind wan- 
dered back to her Kansas home, and her memories 
of that prison-house were sad, with one exception : 
there was a ray of light in the dark memories of 
her Kansas trip. It was her thoughts of Don 
Partlo, a member of the Major’s family, two years 
her senior. She thought of their strolls in the 
woods in search of flowers ; of the kind and willing 
hand with which he would help her do her task ; of 
his flowing curls and manly face ; of his generous 
temper and bold daring, for she had never known 
him to falter when courage and resolution were de- 
manded. And she wondered if fate and fortune, 
during her pilgrimage in this wide world, would 
ever permit her once more to see the sweet and 
lovely face of Don Partlo. 

Cora, at this time, stood on the middle-ground 
between child and womanhood ; in that half-way 
house where the robe of childhood is consecrated to 
the memory of the past, and the costume of woman 
covers the young and ardent heart, beating high with 
hope ; and she loved the youth of Kansas. 

Don Partlo was a boy that Major Six had 
picked up. As the Major had no children of his 
own, he was endeavoring to perform the office of 
father to some one. It was said by some that the 
father of Don Partlo was a Western trapper, and 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


57 


that he was born among the Indians ; it was also 
said that his nativity was in the East, and that he 
was brought West by some of the emigrants, from 
whom he escaped. Be this as it may, it is certain 
that none but Anglo-Saxon blood coursed through 
his veins. His attachment to Cora was early formed, 
and he had rendered her Kansas home a paradise 
to what it would have been without him ; and he said 
in his heart, “ When I am a man I will see her 
again.” And he did see her under the, most trying 
circumstances. 


58 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


CHAPTER X. 

On the margin of a broad and beautiful prairie, 
surrounded by a grove of young timber, stood the 
house of Burtice. When I sought relief from soli- 
tude, and desired the comfort of invigorating society, 
I usually visited the house of this man ; for it was 
the resort of numerous friends, who were ever joy- 
ous and happy. 

I was surprised one evening, when entering the 
front room, to find it vacated, save a venerable 
lady, sitting upon one corner of the hearthstone, 
busily plying her fingers with some needlework. 
Upon the other corner lay stretched at full length a 
huge mastiff. Midway between the two sat an old 
house-cat, eyeing the mastiff and mistress, and ready 
to retreat from the first invader, 

I passed through ; in the back yard was assembled 
a large party of men. I soon ascertained that an- 
other voting trip to Kansas was in vogue. Having 
no disposition to engage in the council, I sought 
the company of two men who were seated closer to 
the house, when my attention was again called to 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 59 

another conversation between Jeff and Abe. It is 
as follows : 

Jeff. You have not answered my question of 
Church and State. 

Ahe. Moses, the Hebrew law-giver and man of 
God, united Church and State ; and yet no one can 
shut their eyes to the fact that numerous bloody 
wars have grown out of that union. Our fathers, 
when framing this government, thought it best to 
separate them. I would not lay a Vandal hand 
upon the Constitution. 

Jeff. Then there must be two revolutions. After 
the negro is made a free man, and the right of citi- 
zenship conferred upon him, what will be his position 
in the Church ? How would you like for one of your 
daughters to take a seat in church by the side of a 
big buck nigger? 

Abe. A change of fashions sometimes strikes the 
eye very harshly : that is a matter of taste and 
fashion. How would you like for your daughter to 
take a seat in church by the side of a big greasy 
white man ? I know that you would not like to as- 
sociate your children with the mean and low ; but 
the white man who is not decent is inexcusable — 
the negro has now the excuse of being a slave; 
and as to the fashions of the day, I never expect to 
see them expelled from the church, or elsewhere. 
We must not confound the spirit with the body : 
though one may be low in this life, he may be high 
in the life to come. 

Jeff. You do not exactly understand me. Will 


60 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


it not take a revolution to admit the. negro to all 
the privileges of the Church ? 

Ahe, I can not see that it would. 

Jeff. Before we get through, I will give you some 
very strong proofs that the negro is not the equal 
of the fathers of the Church, spiritually considered. 

Ahe. I would like to see the evidence, and will 
patiently await your convenience, and let you show 
me, at this time, what right one man has to property 
in another — to own him like a beast. 

Jeff. You look at one side of the question only : 
the master has no more property in the slave than 
the slave has in the master — the master being en- 
titled to the labor of the slave, and the slave to the 
care of the master. These are absolute titles, one 
as much so as the other. The slave is bound to the 
master for his labor, if he is able to perform it ; the 
master is bound to the slave for his care, whether he 
receives the labor or not. If the slave fall sick, or 
is crippled for life, no portion of the master’s care 
is removed ; it is the absolute property of the slave ; 
he demands it ; the laws of his country give it to 
him ; and, in some cases, it is demonstrated that the 
slave has a more valuable property in his master 
than his master has in him. Your comparison of 
the slave to a beast is incorrect. If the master’s 
horse fall lame, and is a cripple for life, he shoots 
him to save his fodder. Not so with the slave : he 
is bound to protect him ; that protection is the 
slave’s property, and he dare not touch it. Even 
after the slave is dead, the law protects his last right 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


61 


of property in his master, to lay him decently in 
the grave. 

Ahe. Well, that is something, I confess, upon 
which I never strictly thought before. But this 
much I say : if the property of the master is no 
more absolute than the property of the slave, it is, 
at least, a little more respectable. 

Jeff. Of course ; the white man, being the supe- 
rior race, is entitled to the superior position. Be- 
sides, to reverse the position would be like turning 
a cart upside down : the bed would not carry the 
wheels with the same facility that the wheels carry 
the bed. 

Abe. That is a beautiful illustration, but, accord- 
ing to your doctrine, all superior races should hold 
dominion over all inferior ones ; superior minds over 
inferior ones. What has become of your democracy ? 

Jeff. I have not said that all superior races should 
domineer over all inferior ones, nor that superior 
minds should domineer over inferior ones ; far from 
it. That the minds of some men are superior to 
others, even of the same race, no one will deny ; but 
that such should domineer over others is far from 
the truth. All wise men should make the best use 
of the talents God has given them, for the benefit 
and comfort of the whole race. A truly wise man 
is meek and lowly of heart. 

Abe. Yet you affirm that the white race should 
hold dominion over the black in this country. Have 
you any other excuse than that the whites are the 
superior race? If there is any other excuse for 
6 


62 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


slavery, I would like to hear it. You sweep the 
whole black race with the club of inferiority, put 
the whites over them, and then assert, in the next 
breath, that the superior should not domineer over 
the inferior. This is strange logic. Where is the 
right of the white man over the black ? I would 
like to see it in a more distinct light. If I am in 
error, may God direct me to the right I 

Jeff, I will offer no better right, at present, than 
that of a long-established custom, and the apparent 
necessity that the races should live together, which 
w'ould be impossible only with their present rela- 
tions, the slaveholders themselves not being account- 
able for those relations. About two hundred and 
forty years ago “ a Dutch vessel arrived at James- 
town, Virginia, with twenty Africans, and offered 
them for sale as slaves. They were purchased by 
the people. These were the first slaves brought 
into the country : and thus was laid the foundation 
of that system of slavery which now exists in the 

United States The majority of the 

people of Virginia were for a long time opposed to 
slavery, and laws were passed to prevent it; but the 
selfish policy of the kings and proprietors in En- 
gland encouraged the introduction of slaves, and the 
evil could not be resisted by the colonist.” Thus a 
wrong — if it be a wrong — was forced upon our an- 
cestors. An attempt now to rectify it would do 
more harm than good. 

Abe. In quoting the history of Virginia, why not 
quote that other passage, which says : “ The colony 


ORh KANSAS AND MISSOUKT. 63 

hitherto consisted almost entirely of men who came 
for the purpose of acquiring \Vealth, and who in- 
tended again to return to England. But, in order 
to attach them more to the soil, and to induce them 
to regard this as their home, in 1620 the Company 
sent over ninety girls to be disposed of among the 
young planters for wives. At first the price of a 
wife was one hundred pounds of tobacco ; but the 
demand for them increased so much that it soon 
rose to one hundred and sixty pounds.’’ And this 
is the same year that they sold them the negroes. 
Who would now' think of offering tobacco for a wife ? 
That part of the barbarism has passed away : why 
do you wish to retain the other? 

Jeff. Had the system of slavery passed away as 
easily and as early as the sale of wives, we would 
not now be discussing it. The one hundred pounds 
of tobacco was probably required to pay the passage 
of a girl. The sale of a wife is contrary to all 
civilization : the sale of a slave is a different sort 
of contract. 

Ahe. He that would purchase a slave is, in ray 
opinion, at best, 'but partly civilized. The purchase 
and sale of wives and slaves are the relics of bar- 
barism. One has been abandoned by all civilized 
countries; the other will be. 

Jeff. Time and circumstances change things; for, 
while the price of slaves has very much advanced, 
instead of selling our daughters, we have to provide 
a pretty good fortune to get them off our hands. 
But I see the men are coming in. We will speak 
further upon this subject at another time. 


64 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


CHAPTER XI. 

Pride may ride upon the golden wheels of Fortune ; titles wear 
the livery of Fame ; and Eloquence stir the waters of the river oi 
Time, while Virtue leaneth upon her staff, bidding defiance to the 
invader. 

In the city of P there flourished a female 

academy, under the immediate care of Mr. . 

Colonel S made the necessary arrangements for 

placing Cora with a family in that city, to attend 
what he termed boarding-school. Previously, Cora 
had only attended, for a short time, a small country 
school of little children ; boys and girls all mixing, 
without distinction of sex. When Cora received the 
information that she was to attend the academy, she 
lost no time in making every necessary preparation. 
She remembered the innocent plays of her child- 
hood with the little girls of Kansas ; and she thought 
that to be associated with so many large girls of 
her own age would be very nice. That she w^ould 
be behind them in letters, she much feared ; but she 
hoped to make up for that deficiency wdth kind and 
lady -like behavior. 

Thus her mind was occupied while she made all 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


65 


haste to regulate her wardrobe. The morning of 
her departure at last came. She turned back, with 
one long, lingering look, as the shades of her father’s 
house disappeard from her view; she thought of the 
shade«trees, and all their endearments ; and, in 
taking leave of the scenes of her childhood, her 
mind wandered to the grave of her mother. She 
buried her face in her hands. 

The coach-driver gently drew the reins of his 
horses, as though he would have them tread lightly 
upon the road, as he said, secretly, “ Cora is pray- 
ing-’' 

The morning of the first day of the school Cora 
made many new acquaintances, and passed through 
the ordeal of her lessons with great satisfaction to 
herself. She saw that application would soon put 
her at the head of her class, and she was highly 
animated. 

The girls were all very clever. Evening came, 
and the labors of the day were over. Cora was 
gratified with an invitation to spend the early part 
of the night at the room of little ‘‘ Sis ” — a fancy 
name in vogue for one of the most brilliant girls in 
the school — where, it was said, several of the young 
ladies would meet and have a nice time. Cora 
attended with a joyful heart, and entered freely into 
the plays and conversation. But she was soon 
thrown on the reserve. The girls romped and talked 
Uittil Cora hung her head in very shame. Cora had 
pwjsed the usual age at which youth and innocence 
sh«k:e hands and bid each other an eternal farewell; 

6 * 


66 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


but seclusion, the lack of association, and her own 
modest temper, had kept her in the innocent path 
of childhood. The girls with whom she was now 
associated had reached that point in female educa- 
tion which teaches that it is no harm for one woman 
to talk to another. 

When Cora was alone in her own apartment, she 
mentally said, as the language of the girls still 
echoed through her mind, Those girls have live 
mothers^’ 

That night Cora formed a determination to attend 
strictly to her studies, and leave the girls to romp 
without her company. Little Sis profited by her 
example, and, at the close of the session, those two 
young ladies were robed with the highest honors of 
the school. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


67 


CHAPTER XII. 

Death 1 ah, fatal Death I thou pale-faced ghost! 
Loathsome neighbor, unwelcome visitor, 

And indiscriminate butcher of all 1 

Tread softly in thine ancient path, lest thy 

Tools grow dull, and, weary of thine own trade. 

Thou invoke the gods for a holiday. 

Near the waters of Owl Creek, in the territory 
of Kansas, lived Ilawkeye. He had for many 
years been a trapper on the Upper Missouri ; and, 
fiom a bloody skirmish he once had with an Indian 
of that name, he received the appellation, by which 
he was ever afterward called. Of late he concluded 
to try the pleasures of domestic life. His wife was 
the niece of Burtice. Being naturally fond of 
seclusion and wild scenery, he settled upon the 
wide-spread fields of Owl Creek, and commenced the 
cultivation of the soil. He was the father of two 
little girls, Rosa and Dolla; and lived in a neat 
cabin of his own erection, and was providing almost 
entirely for the wants of his family upon his own 
premises.. Besides a small herd of cattle and swine, 
he had two horses. Big-bobtail Sorrel and Little- 
bobtail Sorrel, of which the whole family were very 


G8 THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 

fond. They were tied up every night close to tlie 
cabin, for as yet he had no stable. 

Rosa, being the eldest, would carry the corn for 
Big-bobtail, and Dolla would carry it for Little-bob- 
tail. The two children and mother claimed Little- 
bobtail, for he was gentle and kind — they all could 
ride him without fear. Big-bobtail would snort and 
paw; and little Dolla said he was a bad horse, and 
that papa might have him. Hawkeye always rode 
the Big-bobtail; and the little girls, when they 
would be anxiously looking for the return of their 
father, would closely watch the pranks and maneu- 
vering of Little-bobtail. He would neigh, paw, and 
stick his ears forward whenever his keen, animal 
sagacity or instinct detected, in the distance, the 
sound of the hoof of his returning companion. 

Late one evening in the twilight, little Dolla came 
running in, clapping her tiny hands, saying, Mamma, 
papa is coming, for Little-bobtail is pawing and 
pointing his ears up the road;” and she ran and 
called Rosa to get the corn. In a few moments Hawk- 
eye was securing his horses and kissing his children. 
That night, when Hawkeye took his seat at the 
board of his little family, his faithful wife discov- 
ered that the brave brow of her husband was slightly 
darkened, and, with an imploring look, said, “What 
is the matter?” Hawkeye replied, “This infernal 
negro question will ruin us yet.” The mother of 
his two little babes was silent the dread of some 
calamity had taken possession of her soul, and she 
could not reply, but said, mentally: f“We have no 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


69 


negroes — may never have any ; why meddle with the 
subject? I wish my husband was a wooden man, 
upon whom the designs of the Pro-slavery and 
Anti-slavery parties could take no effect; then we 
might live in security, for I feel that nothing else 
could disturb us.” 

Hawkeye was a violent pro-slavery man, and one 
that the Anti-slavery party much feared ; for all 
agreed that, when excited, he was a desperate man. 
They said, Make the old trapper* mad, and he would 
shoot a man as quick as he would a wolf.” 

The cock had announced the middle of the night; 
Rosa and Dolla were nestled in each other’s arms; 
Hawkeye breathed heavily, as though he was dis- 
turbed in his sleep. The vigilant ear of Mary, his 
loving wife, detected some uncommon sound. She 
crept to the window, and saw horses standing around 
the house, and men busily engaged harnessing Big and 
Little-bobtail Sorrels. She hesitated; then said, “0 
my God ! robbers are upon us ! ” Hawkeye bounced 
up and seized his gun, and Mary clasped the little 
children in her arms. At this moment the door was 
opened ; Hawkeye saw he was overpowered, and 
threw down his gun. 

One of the men said, addressing himself to Hawk- 
eye, You are my prisoner.” 

Hawkeye demanded, “By what authority?” 

“ By the authority of Major Six, sir,” responded 
the would-be officer. 


Hawkeye, though an old trapper, was a man of middle age. 


70 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


Hawkeye was disarmed. The premises having 
been searched for ammunition, the party started off, 
taking Hawkeye and his two horses. 

Little Dolla pulled the skirt of her mother’s dress, 
saying, “Mamma, where are they taking papa?” 

“Hush!” whispered Rosa; “mamma is praying.” 

The sun rose next morning upon the pale face of 
Hawkeye ; the blood that had coursed through his 
veins with such wanton vigor was now sinking in the 
soil of a wide and desolate prairie. 

We have seen the gathering of men at the house 
of Burtice. About this time that expedition arrived 
in the neighborhood of Owl Creek. They had been 
to the polls and voted, and hearing of the fate of 
Hawkeye, determined to have revenge. 

Burtice provided a party to conduct his niece and 
her little ones to Missouri, after getting all the in- 
formation they possessed concerning the party that 
took Hawkeye, which, of course, was very meager, 
as the men were only seen in the night, and a dark 
ifnight, too. But they had taken the horses — a 
minute description of which was obtained. 

The party. in charge of Mary started for Missouri. 
Burtice, with fifteen select men, remained on the 
scout in the territory. 

Burtice returned the next week to Missouri with 
Hawkeye’s Big-bobtail Sorrel horse. Some citizens 
of Kansas found two men, near the margin of Owl 
Creek, hanging silently, between heaven and earth, 
to the limb of a tree. The* ravens had picked out 
their eyes. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


71 


CHAPTER XIII. 

“ If it feeds nothing else, it will feed my revenge. 
Has not an anti-slavery man a heart, sympathies, 
hopes, human desires, and moral obligations, as 
other men have? Has he not a right to wish for, 
to hope for, to pray for, the greatest bonds of free- 
dom ? Has he not a right to feel for, to love, and 
to cherish, the human race ? Is his heart made of 
stone, and his ears of brass, that the wailing sound 
of his fellow-man should be shut out from his soul ? 

“No ! he has a mind, a heart, and an arm to raise 
on the side of the oppressed, and against the op- 
pressors and those who favor them. The pro- 
slavery men of our own territory hinder us of half 
our strength. They feed the Missourians, eaves- 
drop our conversations, set out baits to catch our 
men, and, if they hang them not, they favor it. 

“We will give some of them a few lessons, and 
the balance will flee the territory, and anti-slavery 
men will not be found hanging to trees for the 
ravens to pick. If it feeds nothing else, it will feed 
my revenge.” 


72 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


Thus whispered Major Six, in his secret thoughts, 
late one afternoon, as he approached the house of 
a friend, with whom he wished to counsel concerning 
the character of some men who lived at Timber 
Point. On the southern bank of a deep and muddy 
ravine, a few acres of timber had been cleared away, 
in the edge of which, and near the creek, stood an 
old log house. It had been built many years since 
by the Indians, but was now the residence of a 
neighbor and close friend of Major Six, by the 
name of Dutch Bob. 

The sun silently sunk in the west, leaving the last 
traces of his glory mantling, with the shades of 
twilight. Major Six and his friend, as they held the 
following conversation : 

Major Six. I believe, if Ned should get any in 
formation of our intentions, he would let the cat out 
of the bag. He sees those men, you know, every 
day, at Timber Point; says that he was born and 
raised in Kentucky ; is very loud-mouthed for our 
party ; but, may he not be a wolf in sheep’s cloth- 
ing? I tell you he must not be trusted; at least, 
not without some further investigation. 

Boh. Well, as to his having been born and bred 
in a slave State, it is a well-known fact, when a 
citizen of a slave State takes a turn against slavery, 
they are the worst in all the deck. And, also, when a 
man born and bred in a free State takes up with 
pro-slavery men and their “institution,” as they 
call it, they are worse, and a great deal worse, than 
a man born and bred among slavery. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


73 


Major Six. I know all of that. But Ned lives 
close to those men, and I suspect him because they 
have not beaten him off. I tell you. Boh, “Birds 
of a feather will flock together.” 

Boh. Ned has a very fine place ; it is one of the 
most desirable in the territory. That, I think, is 
the reason ho does not leave the neighborhood. 

Major Six. I fear him. He must be taken by 
some stratagem and carried away from home, or he 
must share the fate of those with whom he lives. 

The Major rose to take his leave. “ I will ar- 
range that,” whispered Boh, and he sqn,eezed his 
hand. 

As the western hemisphere blindfolded the eye of 
day, the shades of night fell between the two. 

7 


74 


THE BORDER RUFFIAK ; 


CHAPTER XIV. 

The times are getting p-r-e-c-a-r-i-o-u-s ! It is 
no use to argue this subject any longer. The pro- 
slavery men are unrelenting and vicious; they have 
no respect for a man’s sympathies^ or his kindness 
of heart. What they lack in argument they try to 
carry by force. A man had as well be convicted of 
horse-stealing as accused of abolitionism, in their 
community. With them it is the unpardonable sin ; 
one for which there is no redemption in this world, 
or the world to come. You may take their horses, 
burn their houses, kill their sons, and they say you 
are a robber and a murderer ; but, if you touch their 
negroes, they say you are an Abolitionist, which is 
equivalent to saying you are an imp of the Devil, let 
loose from the bottomless pit to terrify and enslave 
mankind. But get into an argument with them on 
the peculiar institution, and they wdll say something 
about lowering the white man, raising the black, and 
striking a level between the two on the yellow ; or 
some other such nonsense.” 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI, 75 ’ 

Thus Abe was speculating, in his own mind, as the 
slender form of his neighbor darkened his door, 

“ Good morning, friend Jeff! I suppose you have 
heard the news,’’ said Abe, as he politely offered his 
neighbor a seat. 

Jeff, Yes, I have heard the news, and sorry I was 
to hear it. The boys have got at it, at last, and I 
fear the consequences. 

Ahe, And so do I, But you and I will not engage 
in the fight; let us take the storm coolly. Is any 
body hurt f ; 

Jeff', Yes; Hawkey e is killed — murdered in cold 
blood — and his widow is with us. What Burtice has 
done I know not, but I know the man. 

Abe, Where will all this end ? ‘‘A house divided 

against itself can not stand, I believe this Union 
can not endure, permanently, half free and half slave, 
I do not expect the Union will be dissolved ; I do not 
expect the house to fall ; but, I do expect it to cease 
to be divided. It will all become one thing, or all 
the other,” 

Jeff, Before that takes place the hills will echo 
‘vith the sound of cannon, the valleys will be deso- 
lated, and the rivers run with blood. 

Abe, I have said a hundred times — and have no 
desire to take it back — that I believe the Free-State 
men have no right to go into the slave States and 
interfere with them at all.” I believe in working this 
thing out in a peaceable way, and according to the 
Constitution of the United States as our fathers 
made it. 


76 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


Jeff. The Constitution guarantees to every State 
the right to regulate its own internal affairs. 

Ahe. The Constitution has been amended, and can 
be again. 

Jeff. Yes ; could be amended, until it would cease 
to be the same document. 

Ahe. Still it would be under the rule of the same 
majority government. 

Jeff. That rule, though it would not violate the 
letter, would violate the spirit of the Constitution. 
I know that you might, by getting a constitutional 
majority of Free-State men into Congress, amend 
the Constitution ; and, if ratified by three-fourths of 
the States, you could thus blot out State legisla- 
tures, and have uniformity of laws. The house 
would cease to be divided; but where would be the 
spirit of the Constitution ? Gone, and gone forever ! 
You would have a Union ; you would have uniformity 
of laws. It would not be the uniform of liberty, 
but of despotism. Our fathers knew, when they 
framed the Constitution, that the local laws suited 
to the lumber hills of Maine were not adapted to 
the rice-fields of South Carolina. That to preserve 
the union of the States, they must make it a union 
of nations, and not consolidate the whole into one 
nation. 

Ahe. I am for sticking to the Constitution as it is 
plainly printed and understood. I care nothing for 
your spirits or ghosts of the Constitution ; I want 
the document itself, and purpose to go by it, and 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


77 


on no consideration will break its provisions. If a 
portion of our people are getting scared at the Con- 
stitution, because it can be lawfully amended, I can’t 
help it, or find for them a remedy ; they must take 
the consequences, 

Jeff. The consequences fall upon the whole nation ; 
none can escape them. 

Ahe. “ Suppose the disaffected go to war : they can 
not fight always : they must make peace — can not 
friends adjust difficulties better than enemies? — and 
the same difficulties will still stare them in the 
face.” 

Jeff. Yes; and so long as the Free-State people 
interfere with slavery — even in an indirect manner — 
the same difficulties will stare the nation in the face. 
It is not the slave-driver alone that receives the 
benefit of slave labor ; it is not this nation alone, 
but the whole civilized world. Destroy slave labor 
in the Southern States, and you destroy half the 
prosperity of the nation ; and the blow is felt 
throuorhout the civilized world. You, in the free 
States, buy a garment for one dollar. Destroy 
slave labor, and for the same garment you would 
have to pay two dollars. 

Ahe. Yes ; but if we are willing to pay the two 
dollars to liberate the slave? 

Jeff. Then you would pay your money to do the 
slave a great harm. 

Ahe, You pro-slavery men won’t agree to any 
thing; there is no reason in you. 

7 * 


78 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


Jeff. Yes, we will. We will agree to let you 
alone, if you will let us alone. 

Ahe. Yes; but the Constitution! We must stick 
to that. 

Jeff, Good morning; I must be going. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


79 


CHAPTER XV. 

‘‘No! I am not mad. Would to heaven I Avere ! 
Then the cherished memories of the past would not 
chase each other through my brain, and wreck upon 
the center rock the ark of all my hopes. 0, the 
flowers of my childhood, my school-girl days, and 
early married life I How I have watched and 
tended, with a loving hand, half covered with your 
sweet perfumes, and ripe ye stood to strew a mortal 
path ! Ah 1 a frost — a killing frost — that came be- 
tween the setting and the rising sun, to nip, with 
such a bitter tooth, the morning of my dream, and 
leave poor me to winter and to widoAvhood!” 

And Mary Hawkeye Avas aroused from her reverie 
by the sudden appearance of Rosa and Holla, clap- 
ping thrir little hands, and exclaiming, “ Mamma, 
uncle i'j coming, with Big-bobtail Sorrel ! ” 

“N;', uncle,” said Mary; “I will sell the horse. 
Every thing that was my husband’s is dear to me ; 
but necessity, that tyrant of our being, will cause me 
to p?.rt with many things that I would delight to 
keep” 


80 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


And Mary looked at Rosa and Dolla; something 
whispered in her heart, “ I will part with all but 
you, and the memories of the past.” 

Mary’s parents resided in a distant State. She 
married against their will, and was disinherited. 
She had not seen, or heard from them for five years ; 
and now, should she go back, humbled and incum- 
bered? Such a stroke to her feelings was worse 
than death. Willingly would she have taken the 
fearful leap into that dark abode from whence no 
glimmer of light returns. But Rosa and Dolla, in 
their innocent and childish plays, with their ringing 
and merry laugh, like two guardian angels, bear up 
the sinking spirit of their mother, and rescue the 
life that gave them life — proving to the dark miser 
and cold-blooded bachelor, that children are the dew- 
drops of heaven. Plow oft have they nerved a puny 
arm to strike again, and battle through the war of 
life ! How tenderly have they closed the dying eyes 
of aged and honored heads ! How cheerfully have 
they passed the winter’s eve, and early sought the 
morning’s cares ! The childless man knows not the 
sweets of earth. 

Burtice had taken counsel of Mary, with regard 
to the best domestic arrangements for her future, 
and departed. 

Mary was busily arranging her household affairs. 
Rosa and Dolla sat in solemn council in the back 
yard. 

“ I do wish so much that uncle had brought 
Little-bobtail Sorrel, and left that hateful old horse. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


81 


I do n’t like him, for he won’t let us ride,” said 
Delia, indignantly. 

“ Uncle had to bring any one he could get, and 
he had a hard time to get any,” said Rosa, wisely. 

“ Why did he have a hard time ? ” said Delia, 
inquiringly. 

Because the men were hard to catch,” said Rosa 
pointedly. 

What did uncle do with the man when he coch 
him ? ” said Delia, leaning forward. 

‘‘ Hush I ” said Rosa, clapping her little hand on 
Delia’s mouth. Uncle ivhispered that to mother.” 


82 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


CHAPTER XVI. 

0 THAT estates, degrees, and offices 
Were not derived corruptly ! and that clear honor 
Were purchased by the merit of the wearer 1 
How many then should cover that stand barej 
How many be commanded that command ; 

How much low peasantry would then be gleaned 
From the true seed of honor ; and how much honor 
Picked from the chaff and ruin of the times 1 

Shakspkare. 

‘‘ 0 FATHER ! do not go, and leave your only child 
to the cold decrees of fate — to while the tedious 
nights away, and dream of death and solitude ; to 
grope along, by day, the dark and bushy path of 
cold suspense ! This humble favor let me ask ; and 
hazard not your gray and honored head in deadly 
strife. Let Fate or Fortune’s hand sweep away the 
land, the servants, and the house ; but give me my 
father ! ” And Cora clung bewitchingly to the neck of 

Colonel S , beseeching him not to go to Kansas 

with what her keen judgment now readily detected 
as a war party. Cora had just returned from a 
visit to some of her father’s old friends and rela- 
tives in the East; had seen some of the folly and 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


83 


cold-heaitedness of the world; and her feelings 
clung to her father and her home with the tenacity 
of inspiration. 

Judge Traddings was a -wealthy and opulent mer- 
chant in an Eastern city; was uncle to Cora, by 
marriage, and the father of two daughters, named, 
respectively, Nanny and Kate, who had fanned off 
the flies for seventeen and nineteen summers. They 
were the belles of the city, riding in a fine carriage, 
and spending money in reckless profusion. Let us 
take a peep into the Judge’s parlor, and we see 
Kate, sitting by the window, making a vain endeavor 
to write poetry in a scrap-book ; and hear her mur- 
mur, “ ‘ There is but one step between the sublime 
and the ridiculous.’ I know if my teacher were to 
see these lines, she would call them ridiculous.” 
She is interrupted by her sister running into the 
room, exclaiming : 

‘‘ Kate ! Kate ! have you heard the news ? ” 

‘‘No; what is it?” said Kate, anxiously. 

“ Our little country cousin, from the far West, has 
come to town, and will pay us a call very soon,” said 
Nanny, triumphantly. 

“ Mercy ! has any one seen her ? ” said Kate, 
eagerly. 

“ Yes,” said Nanny ; “ old Aunt Keeneye saw her, 
Sunday, at church.” 

“And how was she dressed?” 

“ You know aunt is so droll that one can never 
get any thing out of her concerning costume : yet 
she can tell you if the hair is red, yellow, auburn. 


84 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


brown or coal-black ; or if the eyes are blue, black, 
gray or cat-like ; or any peculiarity of face or form : 
but I have no faith in any decision she would make 
of the color of a bow in a bonnet, whether it was 
purple or scarlet. This much I learned, however : 
she "was dressed in a plain silk, with only four 
flounces, and wearing a poor, pitiful ten-dollar pin. 
Just think of that — and in this city ! ” 

“ 0 cracky, what a wench ! and raised in a slave 
State, and her father driving so many servants 
(poor creatures ! )” — and, turning to her wardrobe, 
Kate continued: “Just look at these ruffles ! I kept 
Biddy* up last night until twelve o’clock, ironing 
them, and now they look like a stake-and-ridered 
fence. I suppose we will have to dress. Do call 
Biddy to dust this furniture — no odds if dinner is 
late. I think papa w'ill dine out to-day.” And 
the fastidious Kate was soon lost in a pile of 
silks and ribbons ; while the maid-of-all-work danced 
round the parlor with her dusting-brush, leaving her 
dinner to the care of the kitchen and the house- 
cat. 

“ What, in the name of all the gods at once, is 
Cora doing in the kitchen ? ” said Preston to his 
better-half, as he walked into the breakfast-room. 

“ She is washing out some of her stockings,” said 
the lady, as she drew up her chair to the table, and 
continued, with a curl of the lip : “ I offered her the 


Biddy, a German servant-girl. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


85 


services of Bridget,* but she steadily and positively 
refused, saying that she always washed her own 
stockings ; that when she trusted to others, they 
were never white. I believe she is just trying to 
wait on herself, in order to make us believe that she 
is not waited on by the negroes at home ; for I 
heard her say that her father had six negro women. 
Just think of that, Preston ! What on earth would 
I do with six women about this house, when I 
can scarcely keep Bridget as busy as she ought to 
be.” 

“ The field — the field, madam ! ” said Preston, ve- 
hemently ; and, as he tossed the coffee into the 
saucer, he continued : They work the women in the 
field, madam — make them hoe, plow, dig, chop — any 
thing that comes in a busy time. The colored 
women are almost as stout as the men, and some- 
times more profitable to the master than the men.” 

Aunt Polly threw herself back in her chair, with 
her eyes slightly turned toward the upper country, 
like the spirit of Cleopatra beholding the ghost of 
Antony, and exclaimed : “ Good Lord ! what barba- 
rians those Southerners are ! ” 

Dear,” said Preston, when his wife had a little 
recovered, ‘‘ there is an important meeting in town 
to-day, to consider what is best to be done for our 
friends in Kansas. There is a bold effort being 
made on the part of pro-slavery men to extend this 
barbarism into that territory. Have I any clean 
linen?” 

* Bridget, an Irish servant-girl. 

8 


86 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


The lady rubbed her hand across her forehead, 
and hesitatingly said; “I don’t believe you have. 
Bridget was up last night until nearly twelve, clear- 
ing up and dusting the rooms. I hadn’t thought 
of your shirts; didn’t think you would be going to 
any place particularly. Why didn’t you speak of it, 
and I would have had it done, if it had kept her up 
all night. I don’t care if she is talking about her 
pay, and grumbling ; she is as big and strong as 
you are, Mr. Preston, and abundantly able, if she is 
not willing; and let her go, if she wants to: she 
can’t find a place but what there is work to do, and 
plenty of it. I know I am particular, and so is 
every body getting these days. If she’d move her 
dratted carcass a little faster in the daytime, I 
wouldn’t keep her up so late o’ nights. You shall 
have a shirt, if I have to iron it myself. And do 
get ready ; you are always late at important meet- 
ings. You know, Preston,” continued the lady, 
softening her voice, *‘that you are considered one 
of the most liberal members of the Church. Do 
not think of money, when it is needed for our 
friends in Kansas. It would be but the penance of 
Christians, if we had to live on bread and water, so 
our money is spent to put a stop to barbarism. But 
watch Mr. Dodge and Mr. Squibble ; they are as 
well-to-do as we are ; I would n’t pay more than 
others. Have your eyes open,” said the lady, as 
Preston left the room. She then settled down in 
her chair, murmuring to herself: “No odds if 
Bridget don’t get her pay right off; she don’t know 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


87 


how to spend it any how ; money is as good as 
thrown away that is paid to h-e-r,” 

‘‘Nanny, you never did look Avell without paint; 
do call Biddy, to bring my painting sponge; you 
look as white as a gravestone. Hush ! did the 
hall-bell ring?” 

In a few moments Cora was introduced to the 
Misses Traddings, and spent the evening. Cora 
was quite confounded by the numerous questions put 
to her by the young ladies, concerning the West and 
the colored servants, all of which she endeavored to 
answer with dignity and truth ; but when they asked 
her if the colored servants dressed her of a morning, 
she could contain her dignity no longer, and, laugh- 
ing immoderately, told them that she had dressed 
many a one of them — litHe one ^ — when their mothers 
would be busy. Cora’s conversation with the old 
man Traddings concerning the West, its broad and 
beautiful lands — in fact, her intelligent view of our 
common country ; its wide extent, its variety of soil 
and climate; its adaptation as a home for all races; 
its wise and beneficent government, as independent 
States, fraternized upon the basis of equality upon 
the common center, with the liberty of variation 
within their own borders. “ While each one attends 
to his own business and disturbs not his neighbors,” 
said Cora, “ there is none to make afraid.” 

Judge Traddings thought seriously of sending his 
daughters abroad, that they might lose some of 


88 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


their butterfly pride, and gain a little wholesome 
understanding. 

Cora had left home to spend a few months in 
the East, hut, hearing of the Kansas troubles, re- 
turned home immediately. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


89 


CHAPTER XVIL 

In the State of Tennessee lived Shilo, a man well- 
to-do in the world. His eldest children having 
grown up, and the soil of Tennessee having become 
somewhat dear, Shilo concluded to emigrate West, 
where he could get plenty of land, and that cheap. 

Shilo and two of his sons settled at Timber Point,, 
in Kansas Territory, taking claims of land, or pre- 
emption rights. Several other slave-State men also 
settled in the same neighborhood. This was re- 
garded as a pro-slavery settlement. 

Shilo had a personal difficulty with one of Major 
Six’s men, early after his first settlement in the ter- 
ritory, which had been partly arranged, and all 
seemed to go right. But an old grudge, like a 
chronic, festering sore, may heal and grow smooth 
without ; within, a secret, subtle, poisonous matter 
lies close concealed, till some unlucky, wanton lick 
breaks the skin: then comes forth the poisonous 
matter, corroding all the flesh. 

Shilo was an extreme pro-slavery man ; and, after 
the commencement of hostilities, the injured Free- 
8 * 


90 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN I 


soiler found little difficulty in exciting a mob to 
march against Shilo. By industry and the means 
Shilo obtained for his farm and a few slaves, in Ten- 
nessee, they had all made very comfortable homes 
in Kansas. They were all great talkers, and ban- 
terers of the anti-slavery party, and had formed the 
acquaintance of many of the leading pro-slavery 
men of Missouri. 

Timber Point had become a noted place of ren- 
dezvous for the Missourians. Shilo was in high 
hopes of inaugurating slavery in Kansas ; was active 
and efficient in giving course to the political destiny 
•of the day. He was much troubled with night re- 
flections, after recent occurrences in the territory ; 
for his Missouri friends could not save him when 
they were in their own State. 

One night, when lying snugly in his bed, half- 
way between the land of dreams and the latitude of 
real life, the soft and hollow sound of Halloo ! ” 
danced within his ear. Shilo anticipated a call from 
some pro-slavery friends that night, and was com- 
pletely off his guard. Leaving his whole family in 
the sweet embrace of sleep (save his unsuspecting 
wife, who thought him with friends), he joined the 
hailing party. His blood ran cold and faltered in 
his veins, when he was coolly informed, with fire- 
arms pointed at his heart, that silence was the price 
of his life. 

The party marched slowly away with the unwill- 
ing man. The pledges given, or the pledges asked; 
the crime charged ; the testimony of the witnesses ; 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


91 


the action of the jury and the judge, are not re- 
corded; and no historian has told the story of the 
execution. The two sons of Shilo escaped the mob, 
but not without sufficient evidence that they were 
pursued. 

When daylight tiptoed on the eastern hills, cast- 
ing a piercing glance through western vales, these 
men returned to quiet homes, to silence Rumor’s 
tongue, and talk with doubtful men concerning the 
fate of Kansas. 

Ned had seen Dutch Bob; and, after a long con- 
versation, had come to the conclusion that the ter- 
ritory was not a healthy country, and made prepara- 
tions to go back to Kentucky. 

The sudden disappearance of Shilo was a sufficient 
excuse for his two sons to quit the country. Some 
said they went back to Tennessee ; others, that they 
went to Missouri, and joined Burtice. Be this as it 
may, the Free-State men began, about this time, to 
get hold of the reins of the government of Kansas. 


92 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


CHAPTER XVIIL 

‘‘ This is the seventh day that I have labored in 
the harvest field of Shephard,” said Freelabor to 
his companion in want, as he lay down a small sack 
of flour upon his door-step. Then, seating himself 
by its side, and wiping off the sweat from his face 
with his shirt-sleeve, continued : “ About four o’clock 
this evening the sun came down like a caravan of 
heated gas from the burning mountain ; and four 
acres of the golden grain waved before us. My 
hand trembled like an aspen leaf when I attempted 
to whet my scythe. We all wished to close the har- 
vest, and receive our pay. I thought of you and 
the little ones. I asked Tom to whet my scythe, 
while I bathed my face and arms in cold water; 
and, as the sun left us, we built the last shock in 
that whole plantation of a field. When we were all 
gathered in, Shephard very politely informed us 
that, having failed to negotiate a bill, he could not 
pay us for a few days. You know I always had a 
proud spirit. So I took Shephard to one side, that 
our wants might reach no man’s ear but his, and 
told him that I was not particular; that he might 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


93 


pay me along as it suited ; but I was in great need 
of a little at the present time. And he said he 
had n’t a five-center in the wide world. I hesitated. 
I looked all over the farm : the stacks of golden 
grain met my eye in every direction, and I took 
courage, and told Shephard that my wife and little 
children had no supper. He said the best he could 
do was to give me an order to the store. I said 
to myself, ‘ any port in a storm ; ’ then told him I 
would have to take it. I went to the store, and 
asked Simpson the price of flour : he said I could 
have this sack (and Freelabor brought his hand 
down on the bag with a loud slap) for two dollars ; 
and when I presented the order, said he must shave 
it ten per cent. And thus it is ever : those who 
save the grain get the least benefit of it.” 

While we leave the good woman preparing sup- 
per for the tired man and his children, we will turn 
and listen to one more conversation between Jeff* 
and Abe, who are now at hand, having heard the 
conversation of Freelabor. 

Ahe. Freelabor sometimes meets with hardships; 
but the man is free to go and labor for one who will 
pay him more promptly. 

Jeff. That is very true ; but still he has no guar- 
antee against disappointment. It is a poor support 
that any man makes by labor alone ; he must handle 
his wages with care, and bring a portion of them to 
bear interest, in some shape; must have something 
laid up for a rainy day, and manage his labor as 
skillfully as the capitalist manages his capital, or he 


94 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


can not prosper. You had as well prate about free 
capital as free labor. 

Ahe. P-r-e-c-i-s-e-l-y. I would have both free. 
Capital is free, and so should labor be. 

Jeff. Then, to put the slave laborer on a level with 
the free laborer, you must give him the same social 
position ; for, if you deny him that, you cripple his 
capabilities ; deny him the means of making a cal- 
culator, and his main dependence is, at last, upon his 
labor. Consequently he must cheapen it upon the 
better informed. 

Ahe. That to free all men would reduce labor, 
I can not deny ; but, at the same time, it would re- 
duce capital in some localities, and some who now 
live by capital would have to live by labor. 

Jeff. Then you would reduce the wages, by bring- 
ing more hands into the field. 

Ahe. Yes ; but it would give all an equal chance. 

Jeff. That would be right, if all men were 
equal. 

Ahe. There you go oft’ the handle again. You 
are eternally upon inequality, or frightened at com- 
plexion. I admit that men are not equal in every 
particular, but hold that, in the great essentials, they 
are the same. When a man is black, is he not a 
man, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same 
medicine? If you humble him, will he not fear? 
If you praise him, will he not hope? If you feed 
him, will he not rejoice ? If you poison him, will 
he not die, the same as a white man ? You must 
prove to me that he is not a man, before I can 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 95 

consent that you have the right to hold him as a 
slave. 

Jeff. There are many strange things in the world. 
If I have a prejudice against color, you certainly 
have a prejudice against the word slave. All men 
are slaves to something. The laboring classes of all 
countries, or, at least, a very large portion of them, 
are slaves of necessity; and, of the higher classes, 
some are the slaves of idleness — some of intemper- 
ance — some of unruly tongues — some of scolding 
women — and some of the devil. 

Ahe. But you have shown no good reason why 
color should condemn a man to slavery ; neither can 
you support the institution upon any such founda- 
tion. It is a known historical fact, that color is but 
the effect of climate or temperature. Stripped of 
exterior coverings, there is a common body and a 
common mind. Inferiority arises from abuse ; and 
there is no excuse for slavery but that of the exer- 
cise of political power, which is not justified by 
reason, religion, or nature. 

Jeff. I am disposed to take the world as I find it. 
The history of man shows a system of slavery 
among all nations. It is like every thing else; it is 
varied in its regulations. The poor are the slaves 
of the rich ; the fools are the slaves of the wise ; 
the sluggards are the slaves of the industrious ; the 
negligent the slaves of the careful. For instance: 
the rich buy their goods at wholesale prices — the 
poor, at retail. The poor support the merchant, and 
an undue portion of every other burden. The wise 


96 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


take advantage of the times ; the fool labors hard 
for his folly ; the industrious gather the first fruits 
of the season ; the sluggard labors and slaves out 
of the thorns and briers a pittance that is but the 
price of slothfulness. As to any justification by 
reason, we only see that it is so. Without stopping 
to examine any principles of religion, we can only 
say, in the language of the great Teacher, “Render 
to Cmsar the things that are Caesar’s ” — clearly 
showing that religion is not political ; and, as to its 
being against nature, we not only see it in all na- 
tions of men, but in other fields of nature. Dr. 
Laycock remarks : “ There is hardly a mechanical 
pursuit in which insects do not excel. They are 
excellent weavers, house-builders, architects ; they 
make diving-bells, bore galleries, raise vaults, con- 
struct bridges ; they line their houses with tapestry, 
clean them, ventilate them, and close them, with ad- 
mirably-fitted swinging doors ; they build and store 
warehouses,, construct traps in the greatest variety, 
hunt skillfully, rob, and plunder ; they poison, saber 
and stab their enemies ; they have social laws, a 
common language, divisions of labor^ and gradations 
of rank ; they maintain armies, go to war, send out 
scouts, appoint sentinels, carry off prisoners, keep 
SLAVES, and tend domestic animals.” 

Ahe. Go with me into one of the highly civilized 
countries of Europe, and witness the coronation of 
a monarch, on the throne of his ancestors, sur- 
rounded by an august assembly of peers, barons, 
and abbots. Then turn to a hamlet in Negroland, 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


97 


and witness the sable race in the hour of recreation, 
and dancing to barbarous music. Or, behold the 
solitary den of the Bushman, where the lean and 
hungry savage crouches in silence, like a beast of 
prey, watching, with eager eyes, the creatures which 
enter his pitfall. Then behold the doctrine : “ All 
men are of a common stock.” Can you, then, say 
to me that we must take things as we find them, 
and think not of reformation? 

Jeff. Reformation comes as gently as the dew 
from heaven. If you would reform a man, go not 
about his angry parts, nor stir the passions of his 
head, or call him mean, or try to pull him down ; 
touch not his purse, or try to level down his pride ; 
do n’t say he owes a lasting debt, as huge as mount- 
ains are, to all the world. But touch him in his 
tender parts, and say, “A beast has feelings.’’ The 
noble orb of heaven looks down with mercy on the 
weak, and, lavish with his friendly rays, bids all to 
rise. Ye noble son, that stands above the mass of 
slavish, ignorant men, bid all good cheer, and each 
performs his appointed part ; and He that rules the 
lightnings and the storms will loose our bonds in His 
own good time. If you would reform a government, 
break not the strings that stay the noble staff, and 
with your heated breath blow down its glorious fiag. 
Nor go about with counterfeited salve, to heal the 
sores on the body politic ; but wash with friendly 
water the sounder parts, and time will make the 
cure. 

Abe. Such patience is not the lot of men. The 

9 


98 


THE BORDER RUFFIA^T ; 


name that lives when we are dead stirs up the bold- 
ness of the soul to wind the trumpet of our fame, 
and herald freedom through the land. 

Jeff. And such a blast from mortal horn ne^er 
rested in the ears of men — a chilling blast, that 
winters half the continent, and withers all the flow- 
ers, sweet blown for eighty years. The martial 
echo dries up the spring and weather-beats the sum- 
mer; makes mild men mad, and mad men devils. 
To blot the cheek of fame with such virtuous blood, 
the broadest river that flows from crystal fount, 
through history’s vale, will never wash it out. 

Ahe. Storms purify the air. Though thunders 
roll and lightnings gleam, winds upturn, and hail- 
stones pelt the quiet state of man, they are, at last, 
but a necessary thing. Generations yet unborn will 
bask in the sunshine that follows this approaching 
storm. 

Jeff. Civil discord is a woeful thing — the fevered 
blood that, heated in the veins, beats hard against 
the skin, then rushing to the heart for force, comes 
bounding through the scarlet streams, and dries the 
skin with the swiftness of its gait; add but to the 
fury of its speed, and soon it runs its course : the 
man is dead. But, checked with milder means, and 
softened in its flight, it presses gently to the skin, 
and mildly fills the heart ; the head is cooled by its 
gentle flood : behold, the man is better. 

Ahe. Mildness is at some times good ; but doctors 
now dispute. Some say, to heat a fevered man will 
sooner make him cool. A middle course we think 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


99 


is best; and doing what we are seeming not to do, 
will so disguise the course of the disease, and purge 
out the hotness of the blood, and leave the wasted 
frame to gather up its wanton strength, and show 
the world a man that never stood so proud. 

Jeff, You may, with skillful hand, mix up a pill 
for inward draught, composed of counterparts, and 
pass it through the body without distort. But mix- 
ing physic for the mind muddies up the sight and 
leaves you groping in the dark, without the friendly 
aid of day to show you where you stand. 

Ahe, A stubborn, set distemper takes harsh and 
heavy physic, with necromancing hand, to purge the 
blood of imperfections, or amputate the disaffected 
parts. We will rid this body of disease, or give it 
out u-n-t-o the world we are no doctors. 

Jeff. The world still needs no testimony. When 
many doctors set about a complicated old disease, 
some urging amputation, others bitter, poisonous 
drugs — that man’s case is dangerous. 


103 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


CHAPTER XIX. 

The golden rays of the western sun glittered 
on the muddy waters of the turbulent Missouri. 
The eastern bank was alive with busy men ; drays, 
liorse-carts, and wagons thickly crowded the muddy 
wharf. The fine passenger packet ‘‘ Mettlefoot” was 
moored at the landing; the black smoke was rolling 
out of her smoke-stacks; the fiery steam from her 
boilers was singing with a low, deadly hiss, distinctly 
audible for four hundred yards. The captain stood 
on the main-deck, with one hand on the large brass 
bell, while with the other he was pointing to the 
spring-line, directing a sailor to throw it loose. His 
eye met in the distance a coachman, urging his 
horses, almost at full speed, directly toward the boat. 
“ Hold,” said the captain, “ one moment,” as with 
both hands he rolled over the huge bell in its orbit ; 
and its iron tongue poured forth its notes through 
the timbered land and up and down the river, as 
though it said to all concerned, ‘‘Hurry up; we 
will soon be off.” The coachman pressed his horses, 
for in that carriage sat a passenger — a young lady 
returning to the loved ones at home. The notes of 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


101 


the bell ran through her mind like the darts of Cupid. 
Did she wish for wings, to fly to the noble steamer? 
No, she wished, from the depths of her heart, that 
the wheels would run off the carriage, or something 
else would detain her at the river for a short time; 
but prudence compelled her to smother all of those 
feelings, and Cora was conducted safely into the 
ladies’ saloon of the Mettlefoot.” The noble boat 
was soon steaming through the dark and muddy waters 
of the Missouri, Cora, having been introduced to 
the captain, who was a warm friend of her father’s, 
was most interestingly entertained for a short time. 
The captain was called out, and Cora went into her 
state-room. Throwing herself down upon the berth, 
she exclaimed, mentally: ^‘0, my God! could that 
have been him ? 

With noble form and comely limb, 

With face as fair as break of day, 

And ruby lips, that ne’er could say 
A word less sweet than * Cora, dear ! * 

That brilliant eye that dropped a tear. 

When last I saw him strive to weep, 

From shaded brows once more did peep 
With shooting rays, to wound a heart 
That loves the piercing of the dart. 

If ’twas not him, ’t was his ghost, 

Bearing human form, straight almost. 

“ 0 my God ! could that be him in such mean attire, 
tending sheep? And what a noble look he gave 
me ! In that face I saw the morning sun, that 
lighted up the day of all my hopes, and moored the 
night in iron bands, that held my love so long in a 
9 * 


10^ THE BORDER RUFFIAN* 

prison-house; a momentary day, that came like 
heaven’s gleam, and darted quick away. And Fate 
rolled on the carriage-wheels with such a barbarous 
speed, while pale-faced Fear crept o’er my soul, and 
bade me not to speak. When homeward-bound, 
wdth such an aching heart, to woo a father from 
such a desperate game! And what a plight I’m in, 
wafting home on a lightning train ! Here are my 
feet, my arms, my voice, too ; but where ’s my 
heart? ’Tis yonder with a shepherd boy I” 

In the prosperous years of 1858-9, Mr. bought 

sheep in Missouri, to drive to Kansas, Texas, and 
California. On a certain trip of this kind, Don 
Partlo accompanied him to Missouri. Mr. pur- 

chased a large flock of sheep, and had driven them 
west, and was near the Missouri River, when a 
carriage passed them in full drive. In that carriage 
sat Cora, returning home from the East, with the 
memory of the Misses Traddings fresh in her mind. 
The thoughts of her father and the loved ones at 
home were crowding through her mind, when every 
thing else was all at once upset by the sight of 
Don Partlo, up to his knees in the dust, tending 
the sheep. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


103 


CHAPTER XX. 

Discord is a hateful things the apple of a heathen tree, of Gre- 
cian shape and golden hue, thrown by the gods among contentious 
men. Ever since that fatal day has rolled around the world, to 
ruffle and. disturb the quiet state of man — in every age and every 
clime, in high and low degree, the apple of discord gilds its way, 
and hardens the hearts of men. 

But here is Tom Slaver ; he will want to know 
my reasons for leaving the territory.” And Ned 
summed up his best recollections of his sojourn in 
Kansas. 

“ Good morning, Ned ! you have lost faith in the 
Indian country, and come b^ck, with belt, cup, and 
blanket, to old Kentuck. You look well. I heard 
that you said the country was unhealthy — what on 
earth is the matter ? I thought that you had one 
'oT the most beautiful farms in the whole territory.” 

A low, cunning smile hung in the corner of Tom’s 
mouth, while his keen, blue eye looked on Ned as 
though it would pierce the inmost secrets of his 
soul. 

Well, to tell you the plain truth, there are men 
in Kansas whb never owned a slave in the world. 


104 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


who do every thing in their power to afflict that 
virgin territory with the curse of slavery.” 

“ Ah ! Do they try to compel a man to own a slave 
against his will?” 

0, no ! but they want the institution in the 
country.” 

Is there any sin in that ? If I choose to work 
horses on my farm, and you choose to work mules, 
why should we disagree ?” 

“ Yes ; but you know slavery makes men lazy 
when they have a negro to send to work : they grow 
indolent, and their children are not put through ; 
they call the negro for every thing, and let the white 
family go idle. You know, if you want a thing well 
done, you must do it yourself. A slave community 
never prospers like a free community.” 

“ So some people say, but I can not see it. What 
right has one man to say to another that he may own 
some kinds of property, and other kinds he shall 
not own ? ” 

“ 0 ! I know an individual has no such right ; but 
a State can determine what shall be property in her 
borders, and what shall not.” 

“Well, before a territory becomes a State, why 
should not all have equal rights ? Upon what prin- 
ciple do you wish to exclude Slave-State men from 
the territories ? ” 

“ Because slavery has already cursed enough ter- 
ritory. I want to stop it where it is, and let it 
break down with its own weight.” 

“Then, what you would not destroy at a single 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 105 

blow, you would destroy by the slow process of 
time.” 

“ Exactly ! ” 

“ But, Ned, if you wish to make Kansas a free 
State, why did you flee from the territory ?” 

“Well, I love my own life more than I hate 
slavery. The Missourians go over there and excite 
the pro-slavery men, and then slip back to their own 
State, and leave the poor devils the bag to hold ; and 
the Free-State men are dealing roughly with them. 
They have got at it on both sides ; so, when a man 
lies down at night, lie do n’t know whether he will 
get up in the morning or not. Three of the slave- 
drivers paid the forfeit before I left there, right in 
my own neighborhood. That, you know, created a 
great excitement, and the Free-State men gathered 
at Timber Point, and Burtice, an infernal Missourian, 
came over with a band of his bloody followers, and 
rushed upon them, behind some wagon-loads of hay, 
and dispersed the whole crowd. Then, you see, he 
slips back to Missouri, and the Free-State men have 
no show at him. The Missourians interfere with our 
elections ; and the pro-slavery men of Kansas are 
trying to establish the institution by the sword, and 
they get no little help from Missouri. The Free- 
State men can’t get at the Missourians ; and the 
pro-slavery men of the territory pay the for- 
feit.” 

“Yes; but, Ned, you are not pro-slavery.” 

“ I know that I am. not ; but the Free-State men 
catch it occasionally. I tell you this d — d Burtice 


106 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


will hang an Abolitionist as quick as he would a 
dog.- 

“ Yes; but, Ned, I never understood you to be an 
Abolitionist.” 

“Well, you know that a man has to take sides, 
and, as I am a Free-State man, I am reckoned with 
that party by all such fellows as Burtice.” 

“ It seems that Burtice is somewhat of a terror to 
the Abolitionists.” 

“ Ah ! he is a bad man.” 

“ Why do n’t the Abolitionists stop his wind ?” 

“Why didn’t Jack eat his supper?” 

“Well, Ned, what sort of a country is Kansas?” 

“ The larger portion of it is no country at all, 
unless you call an ocean of prairie a country. There 
are some good streaks of country about through it. 
Wherever there is a stream of water, you will find 
about a mile of country on each side of it. The land 
is fertile enough, but it rains there by the job. If the 
weather-king do n’t happen to take a job of raining 
during the cropping-season, you raise nothing.” 

“ Then there is not much use for the negro in 
Kansas.” 

“No use in the world, sir, if men could only see 
it. ’T is only those suspicious Missourians ; they 
do n’t like to be surrounded by free States.” 

“ If States to their own affairs would but attend, 
and leave their neighbors be, no strife or discord 
would molest the bridal of the nation.” 


OR, KANSAS AND xMISSOURI. 


107 


CHAPTER XXI. 

The broad acres of a plantation hemmed the south- 
ern bank of the beautiful Ohio. The crystal waters 
of that placid stream washed the pebbles on the 
border of a Virginia farm. Four hundred yards 
from the margin of the river stood a story-and-a- 
half house. A lone shade-tree in the front yard 
gave the premises a lonesome iook, which was con- 
trasted by the merry sports of a dozen negroes, the 
property of Captain Sturn. It was Saturday, and 
the sun was low. Captain Sturn was in the habit of 
tasking his negroes by the week, and their work was 
almost universally completed by Friday night. Sat- 
urday and Sunday were spent by these happy people 
on the margin of the river, fishing and hunting. 

Three miles from the plantation, in the back room 
of a coffee-house in a country village, sat two men, 
by a small, square table, upon which was a bottle of 
wine; the surface of the table was partly covered 
with playing-cards. The younger of the two gen- 
tlemen was apparently about thirty-five years of age, 
with a ghostlike complexion and keen, blue eyes ; the 


108 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


elder was rather corpulent, with red face and heavy 
brows. The game is finished. The pale man handed 
the bottle to the other, as he said, Captain Sturn, 
take a little more wine, and you will play a stronger 
game.” 

‘‘I will take the wine,” said the Captain, as he 
tossed the red element into the tumbler, ‘‘hut I am 
tired of playing.” He drank the wine wdth trem- 
bling nerve, and buried his face in his hands. 

“You seem sad. Captain; you have lost a dear 
wife and a son, and your eldest daughter disin- 
herited.^’ After a pause, during which the Captain 
looked up, the pale-faced man continued: “ If, by the 
providence of God, Mary should bo your only heir, 
would you revoke that disinheritance V’ 

“I have set my seal upon it!” and the Captain 
straightened up as he brought his fist down upon the 
table, and continued, “ and, by the Eternal God ” 

“ Stand back I ” — “A fight 1 a fight ! ” rang through 
the hall. The Captain and the pale man rushed 
into the front room. 

Late rains had swollen the bosom of the gentle 
Ohio, whose waters, near its junction with the Father 
of Waters, met the fine Western steamer “Harvest 
moon.” On that steamer there was a sad, but inter- 
esting passenger : it was Mary Hawkeye, returning 
to the home of her childhood. Recent occurrences 
in Kansas had prevented Burtice from rendering 
her necessary aid. The creditors of Hawkeye had 
taken almost every thing -which she had. Mary 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


109 


had been raised by a tender and indulgent mother. 
Her father was a stern and hard man ; but Mary had 
determined to go once more to that roof from which 
she had fled, against her father’s will and strict 
command. She said in her heart, ‘‘ I will act the 
‘ Prodigal Son ’ — I will go to the feet of my father 
and say, I have sinned against him and against 
Heaven! Yes, I will do it, for the sake of my chil- 
dren.” And Mary pressed Rosa and Dolla to her 
bosom, and gave vent to those friendly tears which 
can only relieve a bruised and lacerated heart. The 
“ Harvest-moon” was crowded with passengers. The 
state-room which was given to Mary and her little 
ones was also occupied by a young lady, whose 
Christian name is Ophelia, and whose father and 
mother occupied the adjoining room. 

The falls of the Ohio had been passed. Rosa and 
Dolla were nestled together in the bed, and Mary 
sat by them with a hopeful smile. Ophelia was 
near the windowj intently poring over the pages of 
a book. Low groans were distinctly audible in the 
adjoining room, when Mary was startled by the 
shrill sound of Ophelia! Ophelia!” The young 
girl pays no attention, but continues to ravish the 
book. Mary opens her Bible and reads from the 
Prophet Jeremiah — Man is strange and wonder- 
fully made ; ” then mentally continued, as she looked 
at Ophelia, ‘‘and woman is the wonder of crea- 
tion.” 

Smothered and low groans again disturbed the 
silence of the evening. “Ophelia! Ophelia!” in 
10 


110 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


louder tones, again rang through the room. The 
girl paid no attention. Mary laid her hand upon 
the young girl’s shoulder, saying, “ Ophelia, you are 
called.” 

‘‘ Yes, ma/am, in a minute,” said the girl, continu- 
ing to read. The groans continued, and again 
Ophelia was called. 

Forbearance ceased to be a virtue, and Mary 
caught the young girl by the shoulders, and, shak- 
ing her, said, “ Ophelia, you are called ; your father 
is very sick. What on earth are you reading ? ” 

“ The last new novel.” 

“ And pray what is its title ? ” 

“ ‘ Dead Loads of Love^ hy Honeymoon Lochheart^ 
the author of ^ Love in a Hailstorm,^ etc,, etc'^ 

My child, your father is very ill. They have 
called you a dozen times.” 

“ Yes ; just let me finish this chapter ; ” then 
saying, mentally, Let’s see how the next one com- 
mences,” she turns over a leaf 

‘‘ Ophelia ! ” 

“ Well, I do declare, it commences with my name ; 
let’s see a little of her character.” 

And the girl was soon again lost in the mysteries 
of the book. 

The Rock Landing was passed. Doctor Solomon 
had taken passage, and was called to the sick man’s 
room. Mary leaned against the partition, to hear 
the consultation. Then, starting suddenly, she ex- 
claimed : “ 0 God ! Ophelia, your father has the 
small-pox ! ” 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. Ill 

Ophelia gave one scream, threw down the book, 
and rushed into the room. 

The notes of the iron tongue of the great bell 
danced upon the waters, up and down the river. 

“What does that mean?” said Mary, to one of 
the cabin-boys, as he passed her door. 

“ Stum’s Landing, madam,” was the cool reply. 

“ 0 my God ! ” said Mary, clasping her hands ; 
“ is the trial upon me ! and exposed to the small- 
pox ! ” 

Something seemed to whisper in Mary’s ear — 
“ There is no escape.” She hastily prepared her- 
self, with Rosa and Dolla, for the shore. 

“Let me carry this package, madam,” said the 
polite porter, as she left the room. 

The face of day was hiding one cheek behind a 
dark cloud that hung in the western horizon ; a 
dozen negroes were standing on the brink of the 
river, anxiously gazing at the boat. Mary and her 
two children were set upon the pebbly shore. One 
of the negroes hallooed, in a wild, mellow voice — 
“ Miss Mary ! Miss Mary ! ” The whole crowd 
rushed upon the trembling woman : one caught up 
Rosa, another one Dolla; and Old Sue, who had 
been the nurse of Mary’s childhood, caught her up 
in her arms — and all started toward the house. 

The reader will be interested with a conversation 
that now took place between an Eastern and West- 
ern lady, passengers on the “Harvest-moon:” 

E. I suppose that lady is an advocate, with her 


112 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


father and her people, of emancipation, that those 
poor creatures are so glad to see her. 

W. You much mistake yourself, madam, if you 
think so: they never think of emancipation, unless 
it is handed to them by white people. There ap- 
pears to be an innate principle in the negro that 
teaches him his inferiority : he naturally looks to 
the white man for protection. There is nothing 
more true than that the negro loves his master. 

E. Merciful heavens ! how you talk ! 

W. Do not children love their parents — do not 
wards love their guardians — as a general thing ? 

E. Yes ; but they sometimes change when they 
become of age. 

W. Negroes never become of age in this country. 

On the way to the house, Mary learned from the 
negroes that her mother was dead, and her father was 
much dissipated ; and that he was from home, in the 
neighboring village — probably intoxicated. 

Rosa and Dolla sat in the chimney-corner, like 
two little culprits. Mary raised up gracefully as 
Captain Sturn entered the room : she flew to her 
father’s neck ; he pressed her from him. 

Hear me, 0 father ! ” 

The Captain listened. Mary told her story. 

“ Killed by the Abolitionists ! By G — d ! where 
is my will? By h — 11! you shall be reinstated!” 

And the Captain sent for his lawyer. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI, 


113 


CHAPTER XXII. 

I WAS at the house of Burtice in the spring of 
1861. A temporary peace had been restored be- 
tween Kansas and Missouri. Burtice had enlarged 
his farm ; his family were industrious and interest- 
ing. The exciting season of the presidential elec- 
tion had passed over, Missourians, as a general 
thing, seemed willing to abide the result, saying that 
the President had been constitutionally elected. 

Burtice said the spirit of the Constitution had 
been violated. The people said the South had acted 
their part in such violation by running John C. 
Breckinridge. Groups of men were seen in earnest 
conversation ; and Burtice said a new era had 
dawned upon the political horizon : seven States had 
withdrawn from the Union, and it became Missouri 
to determine her political destiny. 

Leaving him to talk with his old friends, of war 
and desolation, I was again interested in another 
conversation between Jeff and Abe. 

Jeff, having been absent from the neighborhood 
for some time, was met by his friend Abe. After 
10 * 


114 THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 

the usual salutatiou, the following conversation en- 
sued : 

Ahe. As you are just from the city, I suppose 
you have heard the news. The traitors have fired 
the first gun ; they have fired upon the flag of the 
United States; that flag dedicated to the memory 
of every American heart, by the association of the 
memories of our ancient struggles for the invigorat- 
ing name of liberty ; the flag that waved o’er the 
heads of our fathers on the hard-fought fields of the 
Revolution ; the flag that robed the pride of the 
ofiicer, and gladdened the eyes of the private ; that 
flag that waved in the breeze at the head of vic- 
torious columns, to cheer the spirits of the heart- 
stricken widow, whose husband had fallen beneath its 
folds, consecrated to the liberty of his country : that 
flag has been fired upon by traitors. Fort Sumter 
has fallen ! 

Jeff, Shakspeare said a rose would smell as sweet 
hy any other name. A flag is but an emblem of 
political rule. When politics have undergone a 
serious, blighting change, their ancient emblem does 
not fitly represent them. The metal of the past, as 
pure as gold to every true-made heart, can not be 
changed for a counterfeit. 

Ahe. The President has called upon the loyal 
States for seventy-five thousand warlike men, to 
take the bloody path, and bear aloft the Union flag. 
Governor Fox, of our State, has refused to furnish 
one. What do you think of that ? 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 115 

Jeff. The Governor says it is wicked; and he fears 
the people, for they are against coercion. 

Ahe. True; but we must not fight the flag. For 
policy, in our State, let us arm and stand neutral. 

Jeff. Sooner or later, we must fall upon one or 
the other side. Better start right at first. 

Ahe. To go upon an unknown sea, whose bosom 
no craft has ever borne, to battle in uncertain waves, 
and breast a storm of such magnitude that northern 
winds may force upon us, I think is dangerous. 
Missouri lies with loyal States. The President 
talks pro-slavery ; I am for the Union. I would not 
risk the crazy craft of Dixie, with nothing but a 
sable anchor. 

Jeff. Cotton is king. The world would starve 
without it, and it can not be produced without the 
slave. Is there any faith in the government ? Is it 
not abolitionized ? Does it not woo Missouri for a 
cause, and seek her disinthrallment? The Presi- 
dent talks pro-slavery ; but such an outward press- 
ure bears upon him he can’t be trusted. 

Ahe. Missouri is a noble State, with a hundred 
thousand fighting men. Why was she not consulted 
in this affair? Secession is a sinful thing — to raise 
an arm against a government that never did us 
harm ; on the contrary, like a fostering mother, has 
put forth an iron arm for our protection. “How 
sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thank- 
less child.” 

Jeff. There is a time in the affairs of men most 
critical. Suppose we take a buffalo-hunt ; have thir- 


116 


THE BORDEH RUFFIAN ; 


teen in the mess, and, by fair play and good luck, 
increase our company to thirty-four; we then elect 
a captain to lead the chase. . When fresh recruits 
are coming in, and our captain gives it out that he 
wants no more Missourians, then seven of the old 
thirteen will not go upon the plains under such an 
imputation. What, then, should that Missourian do 
that’s caught in such a croAvd ? Follow a leader 
who wants no more like him — his kindred all be^ 
hind ! I would not venture the trip. 

Ahe. When turning back is not permitted, he 
had better tread in peace the forward track. 

Jeff. Whenever ’tis set forth by any set of men, 
that they want no more of a certain stripe, it por- 
tends no good to those they have. I would break 
their company. 

Ahe. There is old Virginia, the glorious Old Do- 
minion, rendered sacred by every line in her his- 
tory — the mother of statesmen and of States ; let 
her take the lead, and then ’t will be time enough 
for Missouri ; and, sooner or later, go where she 
will, her people will stand divided. 

Jeff'. The men who came in early times to settle 
in Missouri, and make for themselves quiet homes — 
who beat the brambles and the briers ; who chased 
out the wolf and the wild-cat ; who planted schools, 
and made the State — were pro-slavery men. And 
now new levies are coming in from foreign States, 
like beardless boys, to chase gray-headed sires out, 
and it is thought no sin; while secession is held to 
be a desperate thing. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 117 

Ahe. Stick to the Union then, and all is safe. 
The negro is riot worth much in our State ; besides, 
I think we could sell him to the Government, and 
then we would swim with every loyal State. 

In ancient times, some two it took to make 
a lasting trade ; but now, forsooth, we trade with 
circumstances. Where is the Constitution ? 

Ahe. So great a good could not be done in all the 
land of freedom ; unborn millions yet to come will 
praise the day that disinthralled their fathers from 
this sin. The President holds in high respect the 
border States. 

Jeff. The President is forced to stand with one 
foot on the Constitution, and the other on party 
platforms. He puts me in mind of Tom Moore, 
rafting logs. Now, in the back-water of a certain 
creek, Tom pushed in a pine and a butternut, then, 
striding them both, he stood and pushed toward the 
stream ; when to the current he approached, one 
w'ent south and one went north, and Tom went 
headlong into the stream, and swam within an inch 
of life to make the shore. He was then met by a 
friend, who said, Which way, Tom?” ‘‘Cuss those 
infernal logs,” Tom said. “If I had ’em I would 
split ’em into rails ; but rafting in such d— d water 
is a hig job.’^ 


118 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

During the summer of 1861 many citizens of 
Kansas enlisted in the service of the United States. 
Major Six received an appointment and a command 
in the service from a superior officer. He lost no 
time in organizing a command of such men as he 
thought partook, with himself, of a certain deadly 
hatred of Missourians, who were willing to take every 
advantage of the laws of war to carry out their ne- 
farious designs, and who were willing to run before 
the President, and carry out such measures as their 
highly prejudiced minds supposed to be the object 
of the Government, among which "were the confisca- 
tion of property and the liberation of slaves belong- 
ing to “ Secesh.” Don Partlo had volunteered, 
taken the^ oath, and was a promising young sergeant 
in the forces of Major Six. It had been loudly 
given out that the Union men of Missouri were in 
great need of protection from the insult and abuse 
of unrelenting Secesh ; ’’ that Confederate flags 
were flying all over the State, and Union men were 
being driven from their homes. It was probably 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


119 


thought necessary, by the Government, to send 
Union soldiers into the State to stop the progress 
of revolution, and teach the ‘‘ Secesh ” that their 
neighbors were not to be insulted by the Stars 
and Bars. Major Six had determined to cross the 
line with a small force, to give a little instruction 
by way of taking contraband property and freeing 
slaves. An old gentleman lived at no great dis- 
tance from the Kansas line, in Missouri, enjoying 
a fine farm and driving a fine lot of slaves, and 
also enjoying the reputation of being a ^‘Secesh.” 
Major Six said it would be well to commence on 
him. His reputation as a soldier had not departed 
from the mind of Major Six, since the Missouri 
raids into Kansas, and more especially the reputa- 
tion of his fast friend Burtice. It was, therefore, 
thought best to approach his domicile with great 
caution, and the Major called around him his most 
trusty friends in solemn council, to decide the time 
and manner of attack, and what was to be done. 
The decision was made ; the time was to be in the 
night ; the gentleman was to be arrested, charged 
with a high crime, thrown into prison, and his 
slaves set at liberty. This part, however, was 
known only to the Major and a few of his trusty 
advisers. 

It was thought necessary to send a reconnoitering 
party in daylight to pass the residence of this gen- 
tleman, for the purpose of observing the situation of 
affairs. Consequently the Major detailed Don Partlo, 
in citizen’s guise, to pass the aforesaid residence, as 


120 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


a sharp look-out. It was thought necessary to ap- 
prise Don of the whole thing — the plan of attack, 
the intentions of the party, etc., etc. — that his mind 
should be fully open to the observation of every 
thing that might retard the onset. 

The shades of evening were slowly marching out 
from ambush ; the shadow of the poplar had trav- 
eled to the eastern side of the house, in the yard 

of Colonel S . The rose-bush near its base was 

holding out its leaves in anticipation of the dews of 
night. Close by it sat Cora, her fingers busily ply- 
ing her needle, and her sweet lips humming the tune 
of “ Long, long Ago.” 

A young man rode leisurely up the road. Cora, 
by instinct as it were, rose to go to the house, as 
she thought she was imprudently too near the road. 
She looked again at the young man, and she could 
not go. There was something in the outlines of 
that stranger that paralyzed her nerves. She stood 
as motionless as marble, a statue of female beauty, 
as enchanting as the fairies of a lover’s dream. Don 
Partlo, true to his mission, scanned the premises of 

Colonel S , until his eye rested upon Cora, and his 

horse would not pass the stiles. An interview en- 
sued, (which I will not undertake to describe, for 
the lack of capacity to do so.) One hour after 
the above occurrence, Don Partlo was riding off in 
the direction from whence he came, and in mental 
conversation thus delivers himself : ‘‘ 0, true love is 
a lasting thing ! Like water in the bosom of the 
earth, it seeks some lone and hidden cavern in which 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


121 


to gather strength, and form a heart to pulsate 
through some new-found vein, and wet the tongue 
of thirsty man. A crystal fount, deep hidden in the 
breast, will live through long and tedious days, puls- 
ing out by minute drops, until some coming storm 
o’erflows the heart. Those brilliant eyes, like light- 
ning in a thick-set cloud ; that soft and mellow voice 
that thundered in my ears ; the crystal drops that 
stood upon her cheeks, is rain enough to last a 
hundred years. My heart is full and overflowed ; 
and yet it will hold true love enough to fill a vein 
with gentle drops, until I grow as gray as frost. 
Honor is a sacred thing ; but robbery is dark 
enough to break the gates of heaven. To raise 
a knife and cut my throat, is madness. To spoil 
this house, and forfeit love, is wretchedness. To 
do it, or to let it be done, is all the same. Heath 
is the wages of desertion ; but to execute is a two- 
handed game. Don Partlo is a deserter ! ’’ 

Cora had told Don Partlo where he would find 
Burtice. He held a short interview with that gen- 
tleman, and then proceeded to the head-quarters of 
Major Six, and reported all quiet. 

When Don Partlo had left, Cora hastily concealed 
every thing valuable about the house that could be 
carried off, and, unknown to the negroes, went to a 
neighbor’s house, about a mile distant, to remain 
through the night. 

About nine o’clock. Major Six, at the head of thirty- 
nine men, all mounted and armed with musket, 
saber, and holster, was ready to march on the afore- 
11 


122 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


said expedition. Don Partlo was taken suddenly 
ill, which caused some detention to the party, 
and a council was held to give up the trip for 
that night. But after receiving minute directions 
from him, between the paroxysms of his suffer- 
ings, the Major concluded to go forward. When 
the party were fairly out of sight, Don Partlo 
grew suddenly better, mounted his charger, and tell- 
ing the guard that he would overtake them, dashed 
off at full speed. Long before the party under 

Major Six arrived at the residence of Colonel S , 

Don Partlo was with Burtice, who, by this time, 
was at the head of a small party, armed w'ith double- 
barreled shot-guns, and posted in a thick cluster of 
brush near the road, west of the Coloners house. In 
a short time Major Six and his party filed slowly 
along, having dismounted a quarter of a mile from 
the house, and detailed every fourth man to hold 
their horses. Burtice and his men permitted the 
Major to pass ; they marched up to the house, sur- 
rounding it on all sides. The Major hailed. No 
answer was returned. Another hail, still louder, 
received no answer. A rock that lay in the front 
yard bounced against the door, and broke it open. 
The noise, by this time, raised the colored popula- 
tion. They came swarming around, and informed the 
Major that the white folks had happened out, but 
as to their whereabouts, no one could tell. The Ma- 
jor began to smell a rat. He had no clue to any 
suspicion ; but, evidently, something was wrong. 
The ColoneTs residence was searched from cellar to 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI, 


123 


garret, not so much for contraband of war, as to 
find some clue to the run of the ropes. Nothing of 
value could be found ; and the men began to whis- 
per one to another, Burtice, bj G — d!” The 
Major detested failure; and he determined to take 
something. Calling the negroes all up, he told 
them that they were free ; but, in order to enjoy 
their liberty, for the present, they would have to go 
to Kansas ; that he would give them an escort ; and 
to saddle all the horses on the place, as they were 
entitled to them for their past services ; that their 
master was a rebel, and would be hung. The stable 
was soon opened, and, behold! no horses were there. 

Burtice ! ” again ran through the crowd, in almost 
audible whispers. Nothing now seemed to be left 
for them to do but to make a cautious retreat. The 
Major informed the negroes that the young and 
active ones could go with them ; that the aged and 
very young w^ould have to wait for a more favor- 
able opportunity. The retreat was commenced to- 
ward the horses — not down the road, the nearest 
route, but through an open field. Burtice, discover- 
ing the course of the enemy, ordered a charge into 
the field. For a few moments, the volley of guns 
broke the stillness of the dark night. The Major’s 
party went on double-quick to their horses — the 
negroes back to the house, with the exception of an 
enthusiastic girl, who, being a little in advance of 
her fellows, when the run commenced, broke straight 
after the Major’s party. Her head was tied up 
with a white handkerchief, which made, in the dark, 


124 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


a beautiful target for the Missouri shot guns, and 
the balls went whistling by her ears like a den of 
rattlesnakes. One passed through her hair, just 
grazing the skull ; and over she tumbled, stunned 
for a few minutes. When she arose, she arose 
running. The Major’s party were all gone. Her 
feet, as it were, by instinct, carried her to a neigh- 
bor’s house, where she supposed Miss Cora was. 
She made no halt at the door, and burst it in with 
all her weight. Cora was fortunately in the room, 
and caught the frightened negro by the arms ; her 
eyes like two moons of a gray night, rolled around 
the room; her mouth, white with ivory, was closed 
as tight as the grave. 

‘‘ Speak ! speak ! ” said Cora, shaking her vio- 
lently — when she seemed to come a little to her 
senses, and said, All killed ! all killed ! Missis — 
eb’ry nigger, and eb’ry ab’lisnist ! I was the only one 
that got away, and I coch a bullet in my bar ! (clap- 
ping her hand on her head, and continuing,) Oh ! 
oh! oh!” 

“ Killed ! by whom ?” demanded Cora, sternly. 

Don’t know. Missis,” said the negro, as she 
brightened up a little ; “ I spec it was Jeff Davis” 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


125 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

Oakhead and Bob Beabout, young and enthusias- 
tic of Liberty, had been known as members of the 
Secesh party. Federal soldiers were entering West- 
ern Missouri, The writ of habeas corpus had been 
suspended. Rumor’s tongue had circulated the re- 
port that the Union soldiers were arresting every 
Secesh in the country. Hitherto, Oakhead and Bob 
Beabout had been quiet, and guilty of nothing save 
the sin of belonging to the so-called Secesh party. 
An ardent love of liberty, and a dread of trial by a 
military court, drove them to the bushes, and, finally, 
from the neighborhood of their own homes. 

Union Missourians lost no time in informing the 
Federal soldiers that Oakhead and Bob Beabout 
were on the run — the natural consequence of which 
was to create the impression that they were des- 
perate rebels. The consequences that followed these 
impressions may readily be imagined. 

The Federal soldiers were instructed to shoot 
them wherever seen with arms in their hands. Being 
apprised of the situation of the times, Oakhead and 
Bob Beabout were constantly in the brush. They 
11 * 


126 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


would go in, occasionally, to some lone and solitary 
house, whose inmates were known to them to be of 
Southern origin, and ask for food, professing to be 
working their way to the Southern army. 

An October sun was gilding the eastern hills. 

Mrs. was washing the faces of two little girls, 

whose father was far away on legitimate business. 
Rising up from her domestic task, she started back, 
as Oakhead and Bob Beabout stood before her. 

“FeJir not, madam,” said Oakhead; “we are 
Southern men. We are striving to join our com- 
pany, and are Avithout food. A bit of breakfast, if 
you please, and we will leave.” 

The woman trembled as she informed them that 
>she was alone, and that there were Federal soldiers 
in the neighborhood — requesting them to leave her 
house, for God’s sake. It was of no use : the men 
were hungry. 

“ Give us some breakfast, madam ; and get it as 
quick as you please. We have eaten nothing for 
twenty-four hours.” And Oakhead set his gun 
down with an air that said he was not to be refused. 

Pots, kettles, and cups rattled for half an hour, 
during which time Mrs. answered many ques- 

tions concerning the Federal soldiers, said to be in 
the immediate vicinity. Breakfast was ready, and 

Mrs. , with the caution of her sex, intimated 

that they could carry it to some retreat, and eat it 
at their leisure. Her house stood near the main 
road ; “ and soldiers may pass,” she said, “ before 
the day is old.” 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


127 


A smoking breakfast before a hungry man stim- 
ulates his bravery. Oakhead and Bob Beabout had 
just arisen from the table, when three soldiers came 
dashing down the road, at half speed — finely mounted, 
and armed with musket and saber. Quick as 
thought, Oakhead drew up his gun, and whispered to 
Bob, “ They have found us. Let us sell our lives 
as dearly as possible.” 

By this time the foremost soldier was in front 
of the house. Oakhead took deliberate aim, and he 
tumbled from his horse. The frightened animal and 
the two remaining soldiers took the back track, at 
full speed ; for, to them, it was a complete surprise, 
as no enemy was supposed to be at hand. They 
said that they were driven in by the pickets of a 
large force, and the camp was in great commotion. 

Mrs. — , fearing the consequences of the sad 
affair, gathered up her children, and fled to a neigh- 
bor’s house. Oakhead and Bob Beabout gathered 
up the musket and saber of the fallen man, and fled 
to the woods. The Rubicon was passed — the ice 
was broken — Oakhead was a bushwhacker. 

The sun was now shining upon all nature and the 
face of a dead man, lying in the road, whose blood 
had so lately stimulated him to fight for the Union. 
An old sow, that had tumbled the rocks in the 
branch for fourteen summers, came walking leisurely 
up the road, followed by a dozen half-grown pigs. 
When opposite the dead man, she hesitated : then, 
with cautious tread, approached his feet, and play- 
fully shook the leg of his breeches. The shoats 


128 THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 

stood in the background, with their bristles up. The 
old sow then ventured to the pale face of the dead 
man, and the teeth that had murdered a thousand 
snakes were sunk into his cheek : the pigs were soon 
drinking his blood ; and Madame Rumor heralded the 
news through the State, that the hogs were eating 
Union men within three miles of the Federal camp. 

It was evening : re-enforcements had arrived ; the 

Federals advanced upon the house of Mrs. in 

two columns. No enemy was found. What remained 
of the poor, fallen soldier was interred ; the house 

of Mrs. burned to the ground, and Secesh ” 

generally threatened. 

Oakwood and Bob Beabout were now far away 
from the late scene, lurking in lonesome places, 
driven from home, with little hope of being soon 
permitted to return, and with no means of support. 
The musket and saber captured from their first vic- 
tim was soon parted with for a few dollars, which 
enabled them to buy from those who would not give 
them bread. But that would soon be gone ; and 
what then ? Why, they must capture more. And 
how could so weak a party contend with even the 
picket guard of an army, which never consisted of 
less than five or six men ? Only by lying in wait, 
under cover of some thick concealment, and taking 
them by surprise. Thus, they would conceal them- 
selves by the roadside, and when a force sufficiently 
small would make their appearance, they were cer- 
tain to be fired upon — generally with fatal effect. 
In this w^ay they captured many arms and some 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


129 


horses, having gone thus far into the road of high- 
waymen ; yet they would not interrupt a citizen, or 
take any thing except what they could get from the 
Federal army. Indeed, they thought themselves 
honest men, and were unable to see themselves in 
any other light. 

Don Partlo, as we have seen, was a deserter from 
the Federal army. Burtice was not prepared to 
leave his home or any of his men at the time Don 
Partlo joined them in the attack upon Major Six ; 
consequently, Don had to look out for himself. 
Burtice offered him concealment. “ No,” said he, 

I will not hide.” He had started South, to get 
out of the immediate neighborhood of the Federal 
army, where he hoped to encourage followers enough 
to defend himself. But he was in Federal uniform; 
as yet he had not taken time or had the means to 
change his garb. Dashing along the road like a 
dare-devil, on a fine charger, he entered a thick 
wood. 

Oakhead said: ‘^Bob, yonder come a fine horse 
and a brave-looking man; shall we take him off?” 

‘‘Egad! let’s hold a parley with him,” said Bob. 

“You give him the ‘halt!’ and I will watch him 
close. If he shows any sign of fight, he is my 
meat,” said Oakhead, as he cocked his piece and 
placed himself behind a tree. 

“ Halt ! ” said Bob Beabout, squaring himself in 
the road in front of Don Partlo. 

“ What will you have ? ” said our hero, coming to 
a stand. 


130 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


“That horse!’’ said Bob. 

“Light, or we will help you down,” said Oakhead, 
now showing himself, with gun presented. 

“ Are you robbers, or Southern soldiers ? ” de- 
manded Don Partlo, in a firm tone. 

The word “robber” rang in the ears of the young 
men like a death-bell. 

“We are no robbers; we are fighting the jay- 
hawkers. They rob us, and we rob them ; so that 
is the game. Do you understand ? ” 

“We demand your horse,” said Oakhead, in a 
firm voice. 

“ I am no jayhawker ; I am fighting them my- 
self,” said Don Partlo. 

“You wear the garb. That uniform tells more 
than you can tell with your tongue,” said Oakhead, 
sternly. 

“Do you know Burtice?” said Don Partlo. 

“ Burtice ! ” Oakhead put his hand upon his fore- 
head. “Do you know Burtice?” he continued. 

“ Ah ! I know him,” said Don, confidently. 

“ What in the h — 11 are you doing in those buttons 
then ? ” said Oakhead, doubtingly. 

“ Go with me to Burtice, and I will satisfy you,” 
said Don Partlo. 

By this time guns were uncocked, and lengthy 
conversations ensued. Don Partlo was invited to 
join his fortunes with Oakhead and Bob Beabout. 

“No,” said he, “I intend to fight the enemy 
fairly ; they shall never brand me with the appella- 
tion of Bushwhacker 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


131 


Oakhead and Bob Beabout were led by Don Partlo 
into a bolder system of warfare. 

When Major Six returned to his camp, on the 
night of the skirmish with Burtice, and found that 
Don Partlo had deserted, he swore vengeance against 
him ; yes, ‘‘he would hunt him ; he would have him, 
if he had to rake Dixie with a fine-tooth comb.” 
When reflecting upon the cause of his desertion he 
was sorely puzzled in mind. At last an idea broke 
through his brain, bright as the eastern hemisphere 
before the rising moon. It was Cora. “ Ah ! I will 
attend to her ; she is at the bottom of all this mis- 
chief. Traitorous woman T' melted on the tongue 
of Major Six, as he closed his eyes in slumber 
the next night after the retreat from the residence 
of Colonel S . 


132 


THE BORDER RUFEIAN ; 


CHAPTER XXY. 

‘‘ An order is given for six men to be ready in 
twenty minutes/’ said Loudfork to his messmates, as 
they hovered round the camp-fire in the vicinity of 
the town of , in Western Missouri. 

‘‘ What ’s up now ? Damn this way of a private’s 
never knowing any thing!” said Jack Jolly, push- 
ing up the coals. 

‘‘ Some one is to he arrested, and they say it 
is a woman , said Loudfork, smiling. 

“A woman! — the h — 11 you say!” and Jack 
Jolly stretched himself up six feet and four inches. 

“Yes, you know what a woman’s tongue is ; and 
folks must mind how they talk these times,” said 
Loudfork, exultingly. 

“ Talk ! h — 11 .and home-made thunder ! I came to 
Missouri to fight, not to talk,” said Jack, rashly. 

“ But you know there is policy in war. Jack,” 
said Loudfork, looking at his watch. 

“ 0 ! you need n’t consult any time about it. If 
the Major wants any women arrested. I’ll be d — d 
if he may n’t do it himself. This boy wars men, not 


OR, KANS/S AND MISSOURI. 


133 


WOMEN. My mother was a woman. She didn’t 
raise me to fight women. By h — ^11, I had as soon 
fight an angel ! ” And Jack Jolly seated himself by 
a frying-pan, and commenced pulling out potatoes. 

“ Won’t go, then?” said Loudfork, looking around 
on the faces of his comrades. He continued : This 
is a military necessity; ’tis a hard thing; hut these 
war times it must be done. She will he well treated, 
only deprived of liberty for a military purpose. The 
Mnior will see to all of that. He commands ; we 
execute. The duty of a soldier is to obey. Who 
will go? I want six men,” said Loudfork. 

Some whispering, some swearing, some laughing 
rang through the camp, for a few minutes. Then 
six men filed slowly away with Loudfork 

Jack Jolly made no remarks. A dark shade hung 
upon his brow. Low and inaudible murmurs told 
only of his secret thoughts. 

The boys said: ‘‘Jack is in love; he’s thinking 
of his sweetheart at home. The Federal army never 
contained a braver man.” 

Colonel S was on the dodge. He was fearful 

of being arrested, as this seemed to be the day of 
retribution. Even if a Missourian had a grudge 
against his neighbor, he would try to have him ar- 
rested ; and thus Federal commanders were often 
misled. Besides, the Colonel knew he had enemies 
in Kansas. He was, therefore, very cautious ; had 
almost entirely abandoned his home. Thus we find 
Cora overburdened with cares, and almost constantly 
on the tramp, to see to her father’s business. There 
12 


134 


THE BORDER RHEPIAN 


were several Union families in the neighborhood, 
with whom she counseled. She was friendly with 
every one. 

The golden rays of an autumn sun mantled the 
vines that Corals busy fingers had trained in early 
spring, around the windows of a dear and happ^; 
home. Through the dark, falling leaves of those 
vines, a Federal uniform met the eyes of Cora. 

“ 0, my God I she exclaimed, as the door opened, 
and an ofiicer stood before her, 

‘‘You are my prisoner, madam," said Loudfork, 
sternly. 

“ Your prisoner I — I am no prisoner of yours 
yet, sir : stand back ! " said Cora, bravely. 

Loudfork retreated to the hall, where he stood, 
with six others, in battle array. 

Cora saw that resistance was useless. Every 
negro on the plantation would have fought to the 
death for her. By a wave of her hand she made 
them silent, as she said, with her eye gazing in the 
orbs of Loudfork : 

“ Gentlemen, if I am a prisoner, if I must appear 
at your camp, I will do so. If there is aught 
against me, I can answer it. I will go to your 
camp ; but place not your hands upon me, at your 
risk." Then, turning to a servant, Cora ordered her 
horse. 

“ Better let her have her own way,” whispered 
Tom to Jerry. 

It was not yet dark, when Loudfork and six pri- 
vates rode up in front of Mr. 's tavern, in the 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


135 


town of , and demanded a private room for 

a lady. 

A guard will be placed at the outer door. No 
one is to see her except such of your servants as 
may be required to wait on her with food, etc. She 
is to have any thing in that line for which she calls, 
and charge Uncle Sam, Do you understand?” and 
Loudfork touched the rim of his cap, bowing to the 
landlord. 

The prisoner of Major Six shall lack for noth- 
ing in the way of comforts,” said the landlord, as 
he turned to observe her enter the room. Egad ! 
pretty girl that,” he whispered to Loudfork, as 
the door closed behind her. 

Cora found herself alone, at twilight, in the room 
of a village tavern. The streets were full of soldiers. 
The low sounds of a distant cannon hummed in the 
poor girl’s ear, like the dying notes of Gabriel’s 
trumpet. Little did she think that this was impris- 
onment for imprisonment’s sake. No ; she thought 
she was accused, and would have a trial. She seated 
herself, and when thus composed, she tried to remem- 
ber the past. She thought how ardently she had 
implored her father to keep him out of the Kansas 
troubles. She thought of all her idle talk with 
regard to secession ; she thought of all she knew 
of her father’s acts with the Secession party. She 
had never been on trial in a civil or any other court ; 
but she knew the justice of all trial was predicated 
upon truth. With closed eyes and heaving breast, 
she mentally breathed the following prayer : 


i36 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 

0 virtuous truth 1 on my tongue repose, 

Like dew from heaven on the blushing rose ; 

A healing balm for every wind that blows ; 
Star of the morning — light of ev’ry age — 

Prop of the beggar, and pride of the sage — 
Solace of the weak — glory of the strong — 
Guide of the critic and the poet’s song : 

Pure as the diamond, as brilliant and bright 
Tho’ covered with falsehood dark as the night, 
Will harness the mind with a ray of light, 
Tho’ faint as the infant ray of the morn 
Heralds the news that young day is born. 

Sure as the heavenly-piercing eye of day. 
Peeps o’er the hills, to look dark night away. 
Ungarnished truth will banish falsehood. 


1 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


137 


CHAPTER XXVL 

It was night, and the wind was still. Startled 
fey a heavy crash, I said to a pale face that stood 
on the sidewalk of the county town, ‘^What’s that?” 

They have cut down the large pole that bore 
the Confederate flag. Union soldiers are expected 
here to-night, and ^ Secesh ’ are fleeing. They have 
taken down the pole to save their enemies the 
trouble,” said my informer, as he passed on. 

The moon had commenced to silver the eastern 
hills. At the corner of the street sat two men, in 
earnest conversation. It was Jeff and Abe, Bear 
with me, kind reader, while I give you the substance 
of the interview. 

Ahe. The right to own a slave is a political power;* 
it is that alone that gives us the right to hold prop- 
erty of any kind. The government determines all 
these things : we can hold nothing without the con- 
sent of the government under which we live. If my 
government determines that its power shall not be 
extended to me over certain property, I must forego 
that right, if I remain loyal to my government. It 
12 * 


138 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


is not for individuals or communities to set up their 
peculiar notions of rights and wrongs in a govern- 
ment. If so, a man might claim a right to two 
wives, or claim children that are not his own, to the 
prejudice of others. 

Jeff. 0 yes ; it is a political right ; but it is a 
State right, and not a national right, or a national 
wrong. It is a right under the common law of the 
State where it exists — a law known to all nations to 
rest upon the principle of having existed time out of 
mind. Thus, any principle in the organization of 
society, having existed time out of mind, is held to 
be a fixed law, and is the great arbiter in decisions 
in common lay; and the common law can not be 
set aside without revolution. Slavery existed in the 
Southern States prior to the Constitution, which also 
guarantees it to them. They have, then, a double 
claim to it: that of the Constitution, and that of the 
common law, neither of which can be set aside with- 
out revolution. Suppose you conquer the Southern 
States, and free their slaves : must you not set aside 
State rights and the common-law principle, or the 
Southern people can again adopt the slave system ? 

Ahe. When any political power is made an ele- 
ment for national destruction, it is a national wrong, 
and the government has the right, in self-defense, to 
destroy it. Too many State rights would swallow 
all the rights of the nation. The government will 
not break the rights of a State first ; but when the 
States attempt to break the rights of the National 
Government, what then? I would not break your 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


139 


Lead ; but, if you attempted to break mine, have I 
not the right, in self-defense, to break yours to save 
my own ? The laws of self-defense are recognized 
in every court, and in every land. If the States 
attempt to revolutionize the General Government, 
and get revolutionized themselves, who is to blame ? 
The British Government, or the British forces, lib- 
erated slaves in the slave States, in the war of the 
Revolution, and in the war of 1812. In war, we 
must weaken the enemy by every means in our power, 
or we had better not go to war at all. 

Jeff. The British Government paid to the United 
States a large sum of money for deported slaves, 
from the slave States, after the war of 1812. Do 
you expect to be less generous to your sister States, 
when the war is over, than was a foreign country ? 

Ahe. We must preserve the Union ; we must have 
but one nation and one people to dwell upon this 
continent, and whatever sets up in opposition to it 
must be leveled down. 

Jeff. The different States form the nation, and 
the preservation of the whole can never be effected 
by destruction of the parts. The amputation of an 
arm will not preserve the entire man. He may 
still live, but not the same; less powerful in war, 
less bold in attack ; he is a cripple. 

Ahe. Ah ! I would not break a State, or an arm 
of the body politic ; I would only break a cursed 
political power that poisons the virtue of a State — 
that subtle gall that makes a daughter strike her 
mother. 


140 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


Jeff, What’s gall to some is healing balm to 
others. But, for the argument, let’s call it gall, 
and worthy of destruction. When you destroy it, 
it falls not alone, but with it falls the sacred rights 
of freemen; because the blow that kills this bitter 
gall kills State rights. Make one State out of thirty- 
four, and it becomes a monster too huge to live on 
any common food. 

Ahe. Big things can live as well as little ones, 
only they should be properly organized. All bodies 
are under the control of the head. In the language 
of the English poet, 

“ What if the foot, ordained the dust to tread, 

Or hand, to toil, aspired to he the head?” 

The head must teach unruly members, and bear 
itself above the whole, or suffer dissolution. 

Jeff. But if the head ordains the hand the dust 
to tread, or puts foot in pocket, woe betide the man. 

Ahe. The head must know the general good, and 
look to all the parts; instruct the hand and caution 
give the foot, that, bearing down with pressing heel, 
no one shall suffer. 

Jeff. Our body politic is complicated. No one 
dissection serves the cause. It is a whole family, 
composed of equal frames, each one having arms 
and head. But for the common good they all have 
chosen a common head, to rule in certain things. 

Ahe. Then this common head is still the superior 
head, and must rule the rest, or all must go to 
pieces. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


141 


Jeff. Yes ; must rule in foreign fields, direct the 
combined arm against a foreign foe, or against 
unruly heads who assume too much at home, but 
not when to destruction. 

Abe. But when this body is startled by domestic 
heads at home, and all set together to slay the com- 
mon head of all, what then? When they press 
him to the wall, shall he strike in self-defense, or 
give up the ghost? 

Jeff'. A blow, even in self-defense, must be aimed 
with gracious care, lest, in killing those without, 
you slay all within. 

Abe. A blow to kill a certain pride, or clip a lock 
on a rebel head, that does not grow on those within, 
can scarce affect them. 

Jeff'. A lock, though gray, black, or brown, that 
grows on a rebel head in rightful law, when shorn 
by an unrelenting hand, will set up a precedent that 
shaves the heads of all. 

Abe. It is a grievous thing that such a lock should 
grow, that breeds dissension, engenders strife, makes 
such a family quarrel, gives no rest or peace at 
home, but always forebodes danger. Let ’s clip it, 
though death to all ensue. 

Jeff'. Would you so tarnish the memory of your 
ancestors, for the slaves carried away by the British 
in the war of 1812? A majority of the commis- 
sioners at Ghent, who obtained the stipulation for 
indemnity, were Northern men — Adams, Russell, and 
Gallatin from the free, and Clay and Bayard from 
the slave States. If the slaves captured in this 


142 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


war are to be paid for, God save the ‘‘ greenbacks !’^ 
If not, God save the memory of Northern states- 
men ! 

Ahe. The Union must be saved. All that hinder 
its salvation must be displaced. We have no other 
guarantee for liberty than the salvation of the 
Union. The government of our fathers is pressed 
to the very door of dissolution by traitors. North 
as well as South. In this crisis we must not stop 
to inquire a man’s creed or his birthplace. If he 
is not for he is against the government — a patriot 
or a traitoi*. When the work is done — when the 
Union is saved — it will then be the duty of the 
government to rectify the wrongs that may have 
been inflicted, especially upon the loyal. Traitors 
must take the consequences. The government can 
scarcely interfere with the slaves of loyal men ; at 
least, not without a recompense. 

Jeff. The slaves of loyal men are like Tom Wat- 
son’s deer : 


In joyous early times, and backwoods life, 

A party went out to hunt, and camped 
By a certain stream called Little Fork. 

And with the rising of the morning sun, 

Hunting deer they went, two by two, save Tom 
Who went alone, and traversed the woods 
The livelong day, and with the setting sun 
Returned to camp. Ilis comrades lively sat. 

In merry chat, aiound the burning coals. 

Ah 1 what luck ?” said one, as Tom walked up. 
“Good luck,” said Tom, “ I 've killed a dozen deer.” 
“ Where ? where ? where ?” said all of them at once. 
“ Two I hung on Pleasant Hill, hard by the 


143 


\ 

OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 

New-built church. Four are left on Roebuck Ridge, 
Right west of Potter’s-field, on chestnut-trees. 

Five are strung in Greenwood Swamp to elm-trees, 

And face the east, right on the public road. 

And one I left on Little Fork, right at 

The Bailey Ford and Tom Watson sat down. 

‘‘ Bob and I straight have come from Pleasant Hill, 
Passed the new-built church, and saw no deer,” 

Said Bill. We, too, have come from Roebuck Ridge, 
Passed round the Potter’s-field, and saw no deer,” 

Said Joe. “ And we have come from Greenwood Swamp, 
Along the public road, and saw no deer,” 

Said Sam and G. Tom Watson looked sad. 

And rising up, he said : “ I hunted down 
The Little Fork ; when near the Bailey Ford, 

A big buck bounced up. I leveled down 
My fowling piece and shot him through the head. 

And hung him on a sweet-gum-tree, right at 
The Bailey Ford.” Just then, George Clifton came. 

And said : “ I have hunted up and down 
The Little Fork and crossed the Bailey Ford.” 

“ Did you see Tom’s deer?” said all at once. 

“ No, I saw no game.” Then Tom, laughing, said: 

“ I take my boasting back j but, sure as fate, 

I crossed the creek right at the Bailey Ford, 

And looked with all my eyes, and in the mud. 

Hard by the shore, I saw the d — d thing’s track.’* 


I 


144 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

“ La sakes, boy ! I do n’t Weave in no such 
doins. Dis chile knows white folks : dey ain’t gwine 
to gib yer any ting ’cept some old clothes, done 
wor’d out. White folks jist de same in de Norf as 
dey is in de Souf. You heard me ! 

Den dem big fat hogs, what’s killed here ebry 
year : when you go way from here, dem hogs gwine 
to be to hunt for. You heard me ! 

And den dem soldiers dat come here and take 
away Miss Cora, wid all dem guns pinting round 
nuffen but one little woman : la sakes ! what do you 
’speck ob ’em ! — whar de principle ? No use in 
talkin’ ; white folks is white folks. Don’t dis chile 
know plenty ob ’em, dats come here from de Norf, 
and got niggers, and what ob ’em? Is dey any 
better dan our folks ? La sakes ! Call nigger up 
fore day ; den tink nigger ought to lib widout meat. 
You heard me ! 

‘‘When niggers gits to be white folks, I gib you 
my head for a foot-ball. Nigger is nigger, and 
white folks is white folks ; dat’s de way to tell it. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


145 


But you ’s goin’ ; I know you ’s goin’. No use in 
talkin’ ; I can’t stay here by myself,” said one of 

Colonel S ’s colored women to her sable lord, the 

next day after Cora was arrested. 

The negroes, being left to themselves, and having 
liad the promise of freedom by Major Six, took this 
as a favorable opportunity to emigrate ; and, after 
appropriating many little things about the premises 
to their own use, departed for the land of freedom. 

The cock rested on his favorite limb ; 

All his pullets sat by the side of him ; 

The watch-dog lay beneath the front door-sill, 

And the pulse of the Colonel’s yard was still, 


when he returned home, after many days’ absence, 
prepared with men and means to take his negroes 
to Texas. 

The indications about the premises were sufficient 
evidence of the whereabouts of the negroes. The 
Colonel said he regretted not the loss of the prop- 
erty, but pitied the poor creatures, for he thought 
they would be the greater losers. He had pre- 
viously learned the fate of Cora, and supposed that 
she had been taken for a ruse to get hold of him ; 
and he departed to parts unknown, with these reflec- 
tions : 

“ Should Christian hands be stained with innocent 
blood, then the hand of the Border Ruffian will 
know no mercy ! My life is spent — my race is run 
almost unto the end. But should they harm a lock 
on that child’s head, then I will sell the drooping 
13 


146 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


end of a weary life at a price, in weight of blood, 
so big that no such bargain has ever yet been made. 
I can lose my negroes, my land, my house, every 
thing save my child ; but when on her they lay a 
Vandal hand, no covert ever grew too thick to con- 
ceal revenging ball. For the present I will lie low 
and watch the salvation of the land. I will go to 
Mingo; he is an old friend. I think he is not 
identified with these late troubles. In him may I 
not find some consolation ? ’’ 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


147 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 


Thk cold, lifeless clay of a father’s form, 

Borne by children’s hands through wind and storm, 
O’er the ashes of his honest labor. 

To the portals of a faithless neighbor ; 

His limbs laid straight by his wife and daughter, 
With eyes turned down in rivers of water. 


Mingo is the appellation by which we call a child 
that was horn of poor parents, in the State of In- 
diana, in the good old time of President Monroe’s 
administration. At that time the country was new, 
and times hard upon the settlers. School-teachers 
were scarce, and schools, like angels’ visits, few and 
far between. The parents of Mingo failed to edu- 
cate him ; but he grew up in those happy days of 
our country’s prosperity, when the voice of the 
whole country applauded the government of our 
fathers, when the apple of discord was yet in the 
blossom. Mingo was taught in early boyhood that 
when he met an American, he met a fellow-citizen ; 
whether he hailed from Maine or Georgia, Mingo 
shook him by the hand as his countryman. 


148 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


In the administration of Andrew Jackson, Mingo 
left his country and his home. Like his father, he 
took his ax upon his shoulder, and went in front of 
the tide of emigration West, and settled on the 
western border of Missouri. Uniting his fate and 
fortune with a Western girl, he, like many others, 
obtained a title to land by living upon it. Industry 
and frugality made him a quiet and peaceful home, 
at which he remained until the gold excitement of 
1 849-50. Fired by a desire for wealth, he determ- 
ined to go to California. He became associated 

with Colonel S in that enterprise ; made the 

trip, and got more experience than he did gold. He 

was ever after the firm friend of Colonel S and 

Burtice, though he took no interest in the settlement 
of Kansas ; for he was now a prosperous farmer and 
father of a large family. His eldest son had left 
him, and was reported to be with the rebels. Some 
said that he was with Hon Partlo ; others that he 
was a bushwhacker. Mingo remained at home with 
his wdfe and seven little daughters. The shades of 
night covered his peaceful home. Five of his 
daughters, yet in the summer of childhood, w'ere 
softly and sweetly sleeping ; the two eldest, enter- 
ing the spring of womanhood, were assisting their 
mother in the evening’s work. Solitary and alone 
sat Mingo. The burning coal upon his hearth-stone 
glimmered in the glory of its element. Colonel 
S entered the room, when the following con- 

versation ensued : 

‘‘ I hope you are well, old friend,” said the Colonel. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


149 


‘‘Yes, I am in health of body, but not of mind. 
These are terrible times. Colonel,” said Mingo, 
gravely. 

“ These are the times that try men’s souls,” re- 
joined the Colonel. 

“ I have determined to take no part in the mat- 
ter from the beginning,” said Mingo, seriously. 

“ Ah ! my old friend, don’t you recollect the fable 
of poor Tray — how he was unmercifully beaten, for 
no other cause than being found in bad company ? ” 
said the Colonel, sharply. 

“ I have endeavored not to be found in bad com- 
pany, that is, what the Feds denominate bad com- 
pany. You know, just between you and I, in 
confidence, I associate as much as possible with 
Union men, and I never talk my sentiments, except 
to some such person as you. I have been feeding 
the Doctor, over here, on soft corn, ever since this 
fuss began. You know he is a strong Union man, 
and very intimate with the Federal officers,” said 
Mingo, earnestly. 

“ ‘ Actions speak louder than words,’ is an old 
proverb ; and, John^ you know when they can’t 
catch the cow, they sometimes take the calf ; and 
when they can’t catch the calf, may they not take 
the cow ? My poor daughter is paying the penalty 
of a father’s sin,” said the Colonel, gravely. 

“ Ah ! yes ; I did all that I could to persuade 
John not to go. I told him that he should remem- 
ber his old father, and his little sisters, and, for our 
sakes, he had better take no part in this unrighteous 
13 * 


150 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


quarrel. But John is hot-headed, and has gone. 
[ could not stop him. I am honest in this : I have 
tried to keep the peace. I have done nothing with 
my own hands. I wish this thing was settled,’’ said 
Mingo, sorrowfully. 

“ Our enemies are sharp in accusation. They 
say you must not give aid or comfort. You can 
not feed a rebel, or his horse, without giving aid 
and comfort. I know you have done that,” said 
the Colonel, stoutly. 

“Well, then, in the name of God, my own son, and 
my neighbor boys, that have been used to my house 
for so many years, to go and come as they please, 
could I turn them off? I have never turned off a 
Federal soldier, or a hungry man of any party. If 
they find fault with me for this, I can’t help it. You 
know I have no learning, and I can’t read all of 
those military orders and proclamations. I get the 
Doctor to read them for me ; and I am trying to 
do right,” said Mingo, earnestly. 

“ You intend to stand your ground, then,”- said 
the Colonel, slowly. 

“ Yes, I will not run. I have never done any 
thing to run from. The Doctor says that they 
•can not hurt me, under any rule of civilized warfare. 
'The Doctor is a good Union man. He cautions me 
about the boys coming here. I asked him tc tell 
the Federals to come, and I would treat them with 
much kindness,” said Mingo, exultingly 

“ Beware of the Doctor ; beware whom you trust 
these times. I could trust the government. I would 


OR, KANSAS AND xMISSOURI. 


151 


not run from the head authorities of the United 
States ; but those Kansas fellows, you know, have 
an old account to settle with us, and think, with 
United States authority, they can pay up the old 
score. And, as Shakspeare says, I fear ‘ they will 
better the instruction.’ I don’t intend them to have 
a chance at me. True, they have destroyed my 
property ; but, when they get me, they will have to 
pay for me. Now, tell me where John is?” said the 
Colonel, softening his voice. 

“ Before God ! I don’t know,” said Mingo ; and 
they parted. 

“ Turn the soldiers loose,” said Loudfork, address- 
ing Major Six, one cold November evening. “ It 
is the only w’ay we can stop this infernal bush- 
whacking and he jobbed the butt of his musket 
into the mud, as he repeated, “Turn the boys loose, 
and the bushwhackers will leave here faster than 
the contrabands go to Kansas.” 

A moderate person would think that the Major 
had turned himself loose long since. But that 
something might happen to frighten the bushwhack- 
ers, the Major said to Loudfork : “ Cry havoc I and 
let slip the dogs of war.” 

’T was evening, and the ground was damp. Mingo 
had fed his stock, and seated himself quietly by his 
fireside, to take a smoke. 

“ La ! pa, yonder come soldiers ! ” exclaimed one 
of his little girls, as she ran into the house, much 
frightened. 


152 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


“ Let them come, child,” said Mingo, continuing 
to smoke his pipe, very unconcernedly. 

“ Do hide, my dear,”' said Martha, in a soft and 
tender voice. “ They will not dare to hurt me and 
the children ; but, I fear they will take you away, 
or harm you in some manner, on John’s account.” 
She smiled as she pointed out the secret retreat. 

‘‘ No, let ’em come ; I am not afraid of ’em,” said 
Mingo, stoutly. 

The conversation was suddenly closed, for the 
shadow of Loudfork soon darkened the door. 

“ Come in, gentlemen, and make yourselves at 
home,” said Mingo, addressing himself, very politely, 
to United States uniforms.” 

“ Yes, I guess we will make ourselves at home, 
for a short spell,” said one of the soldiers. 

You are my prisoner,” said Loudfork, tapping 
the old man on the shoulder. 

0 ! for God’ sake,” said Martha, clasping her 
hands ; You shan’t.” 

“ You shan’t,” said the eldest daughter, thrusting 
herself between Loudfork and her father. 

“ Stand aside, little one,” said Loudfork, drawing 
his sword across the face of the affrighted girl. 

‘‘ Be quiet, my children ; they will not hurt me,” 
said Mingo. 

“ No, we will only take you to head-quarters^'' said 
one of the soldiers. 

Mingo was now conducted to the front yard, and 
made give information of all his stock of cattle 
and horses. Several soldiers remained in the house. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 153 

What have you hid here?” said one of the sol- 
diers to Martha, as he opened a closet-door. 

Nothing but some tow,” said Martha, in anguish. 

‘‘ I vlll vetch out the devil,” said a deluded Dutch- 
man, as he threw a shovelful of burning coals into 
the closet. 

“ 0 ! my God ! ” said Martha, as the pile of tow 
blazed up. Seeing no effort made to stop the fire 
by any of them, Martha said to them, stoutly : 
“ Men, do you intend to burn us up ? ” 

“ No, ve vill burn your house, and leave you for 
the devil to burn,” said the Dutchman. 

The fire was now fast spreading over the room. 
Martha and her children seized a portion of the fur- 
niture and ran into the back yard with it. When 
the house was in full blast, some of the soldiers 
threw the furniture back into the flames. The re- 
maining soldiers had, by this time, collected the stock, 
both horses and cattle, every hoof on the place, and 
were preparing to start. 

Having mounted Mingo on his finest horse, Martha 
now went to Loudfork, and said, imploringly : 

I hope you will not take my husband far away, 
or keep him long, as you see my situation, with all 
these little children in the cold.” 

Dare is a fire ; go and warm them,” said the 
Datchrnan, as he pointed to the burning house. 

Martha now gave way to tears, and prayed to 
God for her children. 

The soldiers, with Mingo and his stock, slowly 
wound over the hill, and were soon lost to view. 


154 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


The rainbow hooped the eastern sky — 
The melting clouds passed softly by ; 

The sun had sunk behind the trees ; 
Twilight hung on the western breeze. 

The shades of night were gathering round 
A dying man, stretched on the ground, 
Whose blood was sinking in the sand. 

And leaving cold both foot and hand. 

No ear to hear his piteous moans. 

Or witness of his dying groans. 

His spirit to his God has fled. 

And left his body cold and dead. 

Reader, start not; for you must know 
This murdered man is our Mingo 1 


‘‘ Mother, I had rather freeze than go to that 
house ; you know they have not treated us right,’* 
said Mingo’s eldest daughter to her mother, when 
the soldiers were all gone. 

“ Yes, my child ; but these little ones : what can 
we do with them ? ” said Martha, mournfully. 

It was now dark, and Martha and her children 
still lingered around the burning wreck. 

‘‘ The Doctor is an old hypocrite,” said one of the 
girls. 

Mother, I do n’t want to go to sleep,” said one 
of the little ones. 

Martha looked wistfully toward the Doctor’s 
house, and still they lingered around the embers of 
a once happy home. 

The morning star silvered the old straw-shed — 
the little ones were closely nestled in the straw. 
Martha and the two eldest girls sat over them, and 
talked and cried. The gray light of the morning 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


lo5 


came ; but the little ones were buried from their 
late fright : the innocent balm of sleep held them 
from the troubled world. 

“ 0 mother ! do not waken them/’ said one of the 
girls, softlj. 

“ Hush ! yonder comes the Doctor ; probably he 
has some news,” said Martha, starting up. 

“ Good morning, madam ; you seem quite deso- 
late,” said the Doctor, coldly. 

Martha wept aloud. 

“ The old man lies just over the hill, madam. I 
am compelled to be in town, on military business, 
in half an hour.” And the Doctor put the spurs to 
his horse. 

Nimble feet sped o’er the ground for a few min- 
utes. ‘‘0 mother! he is dead,” said one of the lit- 
tle ones. 

‘‘ There is no other chance, mother : the men are 
all gone. There are none this side of town,” said 
the eldest daughter. 

If his hand was just loose from that bush,” said 
Martha, as she wept aloud. 

Mingo had been shot through the lungs : he lay 
on his back ; his left hand rested upon his breast 
his right held a small shrub with the grasp of death. 
The girls were resolute and determined; Martha 
assisted a little, and they carried the body of Mingo 
to the Doctor’s house. 


156 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

Have you heard the news ? ” said Little Ben to 
the editor of the Platte Country Post. Then, as he 
dug a hole in the ground with his toe, continued : 
“Mingo has been killed in cold blood; his house 
and others burned to the ground, and the devil let 
loose generally.” 

The editor shook his head, and seemed to say 
mentally, in the language of Solomon, “ There is a 
time to be merry, and a time to be sad ; a time to 
rejoice, and a time to weep ; a time to be awake, 
and a time to sleep; a time to be silent, and a time 
to speak.” 

“Very many reports, my son,” said the editor, as 
he passed on. 

“ Halloo, Ben ! have you engaged papers for to- 
morrow ? ” said a comrade, coming up. 

“Yes.” 

“ How many? ” 

“ Same old number.” 

“ Why do n’t you go it strong ? To-morrow is a 
big day.” 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


157 


Do n’t care ; can’t sell many papers.” 

0 ! you do n’t try hard.” 

“No use. These editors put me in mind of Joe 
Slater hunting old Barns’s oxen.” 

“ How so ? ” 

“Well, old Barns sent Joe into the woods to hunt 
a pair of his oxen, and Joe staid a long time; and 
when he came, old Barns said, ‘Did you find the 
oxen, Joe?’ When Joe cleared his throat, he said, 
'■ I found one of them, sir, and drove him up, and 
put him into the pasture.’ ‘Well, Joe,’ said Barns, 
‘ did you see or hear any thing of the other one ? ’ 
‘Yes, sir; I found him, too, and drove them both up 
together, and put them into the pasture.’ So, these 
editors, when they hear any news, tell part of it to- 
day, and part to-morrow ; and sometimes they do n’t 
tell the other part at all. And when you offer to 
sell a paper to a man, he looks at you just like he 
thought you were going to swindle him out of five 
cents.” 

“ Ben, I do n’t believe you are Union.” 

“ Yes, I am as good a Union as any boy in St. 
Jude.” 

“ Full-blooded ? ” 

“No; I’m a half-breed; I thought you knew. 
Mother is a Secesh.” 

“ Ha ! ha ! ha ! I thought there was a blue streak 
about you.” 

“ Blue streak or black streak, I want to sell some 
papers. I ’m going to have a new pair of shoes 
agin Christmas, if I have to steal ’em.” 

14 


158 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


“ Hush [ I believe the cars are coming/^ 

And they sped to the depot. 

Jist hand me the reins, and I will drive to that 
county sate in three hours,” said an Irish coach- 
man, as the military authorities were disputing over 
the proper escort to accompany the United States 
mail. 

The Blue was crossed ; the coach rolled slowly 
down a long hill into a dense forest, followed by a 
dozen United States uniforms. Holy Jasus 1” said 
the Irishman, as a long file of armed men entered 
the road before him. 

Throw down your arms, or you are dead men I ” 
said Don Partlo, in a shrill and piercing tone. 

The Federal soldiers obeyed, for they were out- 
numbered two to one. 

Under a thick cover of brush Don Partlo ripped 
open the mail-bags. In casting his eye over a bun- 
dle of letters, one drew his special attention. He 
said mentally, ‘‘I have seen that P made before, in 
other places, and under other circumstances.” He 
had seen it made in the sand, many years ago, in 
Kansas, by little Cora. It was as familiar to him as 
the love of heaven. The letter was quickly torn 
open, and proved to be from Cora to her father’s 
friend, Preston, in the East. It gave a short state- 
ment of her situation, and requested his assistance 
with head authorities, for her release. Cora had 
managed to slip the letter out of her prison by the 
hand of one of her attendants. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI, 


159 


‘‘ Ah ! ” said Don Partlo, it will take Preston 
three days to get a shirt ironed, to attend to any 
such business as that, I know Aunt Polly too well 
on that head. By heaven! I will liberate herl I 
will give them no such trouble, no such gratification. 
Give me forty men and a dark night, and I will 
liberate her.” 

And Don Partlo looked sadly upon half that num- 
ber. Then he refolded the letter, directed it as be- 
fore, and laid it gently in the mail. When he had 
taken every thing from the mail that suited him, he 
bade the coachman onward to his destination, pa- 
roled the escort, and departed. 


160 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


I 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Genius is an aged man, with venerable aspect and 
silver beard. Unlike the heathen gods, he rules 
no particular element, but lends a helping hand to 
all. The poet, author, architect, teacher, navigator, 
statesman, orator, theologian, general in the field, 
and all others, even in the simplest avocations of 
life, may consult him to advantage. He lives not 
in a sealed house-— he dwells in the open air ; he is 
not found in high places, neither in the schools. 

He lives in the wind, and rides on the breeze ; 

Dwells in the forest and tenants the trees. 

Thus contemplating, my attention was again called 
to another conversation between Jeft' and Abe. I*- 
was substantially as follows : 

Abe. I was on the Oliver plantation, in the Mis 
sissippi Valley, in the winter of 1836. I heard it 
announced that at Christmas there would be some 
negro weddings. I was somewhat curious to witness 
the ceremonies, having never seen a negro wedding. 
Old Oliver had sent to Virginia, that fall, and pur- 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 161 

chased twenty young negroes; ten men and ten 
women. He told me that he always purchased an 
equal number of men and women, so each man on 
the plantation could have a wife, which I thought a 
very good consideration, but wondered if he ever 
thought how little choice he gave the poor creatures. 
But enough of that. There were to be ten weddings 
on Christmas eve. So I was dying of curiosity to 
see the ball come olF, At the appointed time I re- 
paired to old Oliver’s house, where the ceremony 
was to be performed, the negro quarters being close 
by. I was sitting in conversation with old Oliver, 
during which time he informed me that, some four 
weeks since, twenty young negroes had been brought 
to the plantation ; that he had given them until that 
night to make their choice among themselves of 
husband and wife ; that he would marry them all in 
a few minutes, and then they would have a dance. 
Old Oliver had just concluded his story when a 
large company of negroes appeared before the door. 
I sat in amazement. The negroes were all still as 
death. Old Oliver raised up a little, but still re- 
clined on his sofa. Two young negroes stepped out 
into the center of the room. Old Oliver said the 
ceremony, taken in part from the Bible, which I 
have forgotten ; but it was short. They retreated, 
and two more came up to the altar, and so on until 
nine couple were united in the solemn bonds of 
wedlock. There was then a pause. Old Oliver 
straightened up, and fixing his eye upon a tall negro 
that stood by the door-side, addressed him as follows : 
14 * 


162 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


“Well, Joe, you and Jane are the last. Both 
d — d ugly — beauty is only skin deep any way — why 
do n’t you come along ?” 

“Well, Massa,” said Joe, “Jane don’t want me, 
and, ’fore God, I don’t want her.” 

“ The h — 11 you say,” continued old Oliver, in an 
angry tone ; then softening his voice, he said, “ My 
money is all spent; I can buy no more negroes this 
year. I can not afford to' give you separate houses ; 
you will have to bundle together ; so you had as well 
come along.” 

Joe intimated that they could tenant the same 
house and not be married. Old Oliver shook his 
head, and I had some doubts myself, though I pitied 
the poor creatures from the bottom of my heart. 

Old Oliver straightened himself up and said : “ I 
will not permit such foolishness ; come along.” 

Joe and Jane slowly assumed their position, and 
stood as a monument of the abuse of the slave 
power. 

Jeff. Money is the root of all evil, said a wise 
man. Hard cases must and will appear in all ages 
and among all nations. I often think of Susan 
Seldom. Bright and beautiful girl ! She lived in a 
Northern village, though the same may happen any- 
where. Susan was an only daughter. Her parents 
had been in good circumstances, but hard-favored 
fortune had reduced them to a low estate, and a 
mortgage was hanging over old Seldom’s house. 
The court was at hand, and, without some remedy, 
the whole family must be turned out upon the cold 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


163 


charities of the world. A wealthy old bachelor fan- 
cied Susan. He saw his advantage, and proffered 
the assistance, but on one condition. Susan detested 
him. The old people thought it was a childish 
whim ; he had money and was respectable ; he had 
experience and a sober head to guide her in her 
wayward fancies. ’T was Sunday, and the sun was 
down. The shades of night were gathering in the 
corners of old Seldom’s parlor. A few books lay 
scattered over the floor. The old man sat in the 
center of the room with a melancholy look ; by his 
side sat his helpmate, faithful and true, for five-and- 
twenty years. In front of them Susan had fallen 
on her knees; her eyes were flooded with water, and 
her lips uttered : 0 father, I can’t ! ” Old Seldom 

walked the floor, and Susan buried her face in her 
mother’s lap. Old Seldom passed out of the door, 
and his wife said : Poor man ! he will never stand 
this shock.” A new idea entered Susan’s brain — it 
was suicide. She saw, in her imagination, her father 
hanging to a beam. With a wild, hysteric laugh she 
bounded out of the door and called her father. The 
wedding-day was set. Susan and the old bachelor 
were married by a minister of the Gospel, and not 
as old Oliver married his negroes. Susan said Yes,” 
with her lips ; but, 0 God, her innocent little heart 
never made the confession. 

Five years had passed away. Two policemen, of 
Irish descent, in a distant city, under cover of night, 
passing a house of bad repute, drew around them 
their great coats to protect them from the rain. 


164 


THE BOEDER RUFFIAN; 


Wliat mout that be floundering in the mud, just 
there ? ” said Mike. 

‘‘By Jasus, ’tis no baste,” said Dennis. 

“ 0 God ! a drunken woman ! ” said Mike. 

“ And we ’ll be after taking her to the light,” 
said Dennis. 

The golden rays of the gas-light fell softly on 
the face of the once beautiful Susan Seldom. 

Ahe. Many years ago, in the proud State of Ken- 
tucky, I attended church, on a beautiful sunny Sun- 
day, in the golden month of October. It was a 
meeting of the Baptist persuasion, and a glorious, 
warm meeting. An elder of deserved reputation 
had delivered a glowing and eloquent sermon ; then 
came the shaking of hands among the church mem- 
bers. Captain Riverman, an old acquaintance of 
mine, and a leader in the church, shook my hand 
with a glowing warmness that seemed to say that 
he was in love with all mankind. The meeting was 
over, and I had an invitation to go with the Captain 
and his family to dinner. As I dismounted my 
horse, the Captain and his lady drove up to the 
yard fence in a fine carriage. We all passed through 
the front yard and approached his residence at the 
back door. A negro boy, some fourteen years of 
age, was seated on the door-step. Both of his arms 
and one of his legs w’ere fastened together with a 
large chain, made for drawing logs with oxen. His 
countenance was cast down, and sadness had settled 
deep in his heart. I hesitated. The Captain warmly 
invited me in, and then explained that he intended to 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


165 


send the boy to Arkansas, to a cotton plantation in 
which he had an interest, and the rascal, finding 
out his intention, had run off and given him some 
trouble, and was only chained for the present, until 
the party Avas ready to start — and the Captain con- 
tinued the conversation — that he would be better off, 
but the rascal did not want to leave his mother, and 
she could not be spared from his Kentucky farm. I 
had. by this time, lost all faith in the Captain’s re- 
ligion, but passed off the evening as best I could, 
and departed. My last look at the Captain’s beau- 
tiful residence was clouded with a black man in 
darkness and in chains. How sad the reflection. 

Jeff. If I understand the Scriptures, all men are 
under condemnation from the fall of Adam. Prior 
to the Christian Era, sacrifices were offered to the 
living God ; but since the death and resurrection 
of the Lord Jesus, the way has been opened, and a 
plan set up whereby all men may be saved. Hav- 
ing premised thus far, we venture to affirm that the 
coming, the death, and resurrection of Christ was to 
remove the original sin'; and, in this sense, we pro- 
pose to look at the negro ; and, as an antedilu- 
vian, I affirm that he is not a man at all, of which 
we have any account. But if you say the posterity 
of Adam were preserved in the ark with Noah, then 
I answer, true ; Noah preserved three sons, Shem, 
Ham, and Japheth, together with the fowls of the 
air, and all cattle and creeping things upon the 
whole face of the earth. 


166 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN 


Now, Shem had five sons, Japheth had seven, and 
Ham had four sons. 

When the waters were assuaged, and the land was 
dry, Noah and his sons went out from the ark; and 
Noah planted a vineyard, and built a wine-press, and 
drank of the wine, and was drunken. And Ham 
regarded not his drunkenness. And Noah awaketh 
from his wine, and said, “ Cursed be Canaan. A 
servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.’’ 
First : Why should Noah curse Canaan, who was 
innocent of Ham’s offense, at least as much so as 
Cush, or any one of the others of Ham’s sons? 
Second : If that curse turned Canaan black, at the 
time, why was it not mentioned ? And, third, why 
should Canaan be a servant to Ham’s other chil- 
dren? It appears that the curse was put upon 
Canaan, the fourth son of Ham — or, as I take it, 
the adopted son of Ham — for it is said that Ham 
was the father of Canaan. It is nowhere said that 
Ham is the father of his other children. The word 
father^ in the sense used here, means protector. 
The practice of adopting children is very ancient. 
Josephus^ the historian of the Jews, says, in his 
‘‘Antiquities of the Jews,” Book first, chapter 7, 
page 31, “ Now Abram, having no son of his 
own, adopted Lot, his brother Haran’s son. ” 
But if you say that Canaan could have no other 
father — that all mankind, save Noah and his sons, 
were drowned in the flood — then I answer, the 
same historians, both sacred and profane, who give 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


167 


US an account of the flood, give us the account, 
also, of another family, diverse to that of Noah, 
whom they denominate giants. If there was one, 
why not two ? All tribes of the negro have de- 
scended from the Canaanites, and to claim that 
they are men, equally endowed with the Fathers of 
the Church, is preposterous. The great Teacher said. 
Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel 
to every creature.” This does not mean that you 
should preach the Gospel to your horse ; yet, your 
horse is a creature. If you reproach me for calling 
the negro an animal, then, I answer, the proudest 
emperor that ever graced the throne of an empire, 
is an animal ; at least, he has an animal body and 
animal propensities ; but, I admit, an immortal soul. 
No reasonable man will contend that an infant is 
accountable for the sin of Adam, or deny that an 
infant has an immortal soul. If I deny that Christ 
died for the negro, I do not deny that the negro has 
a soul. This I leave to the Judge of all the earth. 
Neither would I deny to the negro the moral pre- 
cepts of the Christian religion. 

I will now answer the question ‘‘Why should 
Noah curse Canaan ? ” Because Canaan was not 
his natural, but his adopted son; and Noah plainly 
saw that he was fit for nothing but a servant. Is 
there any other reason ? Canaan was not the eldest 
or most intelligent son of Ham ; that honor is given 
to Cush, the father of Nimrod. Then I repeat the 
question. Why curse Canaan, and subject his pos- 
terity to servitude for all time to come ? and for 


168 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


what reason? Because his father laughed at Noah’s 
drunkenness ; an offense most trivial, according to 
the moralist of the present day ; yet that curse 
turned his skin black, put short wool on his head, 
and clouded his intellect. If we are to believe that 
Canaan was the real son of Noah, the curse would 
have been a miracle, equal to the creation of a man ; 
it is not mentioned in the history of the Patriarchs, 
so far as regards any change of Canaan’s person, 
and I take it for granted there was no such change. 
But if you say I have not shown sufficient reasons 
that Ham is not the sire of Canaan, and still con- 
tend that the negro is a descendant of Noah, then, 
I answer, the curse of Noah entirely changed his 
organization, and he ceased to be the equal of 
Noah’s other children. He always has been, and 
ever will be, their servant — a minor, irresponsible 
both to God and man, in any other capacity than 
that of a servant. The angel of the Lord appeared 
unto Abraham, and showed him the seed of the 
promise could not descend through Ishmael, the son 
of Hagar, the bondwoman ; and sacrifices were offered 
by the Patriarchs without spot or blemish. The Uni- 
versalist would save all men. All other denomina- 
tions would save their respective orders. But the 
great Teacher said: “My kingdom is not of this 
world.” The wild colt of an ass bore him with 
gentleness, and the waves of the sea were stilled 
by his voice. And he has said, “ Servants, obey your 
masters.” 

Ahe. Your reasoning puts me in mind of an old 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 169 

Indian tradition that I heard far up the Missouri 
River, many years since. It is as follows : 

“ The Great Spirit having formed the water and 
the land, the fowls of the air, the fishes of the sea, 
and all animals and creeping things, was mindful 
that he had not made a man to dwell on the face of 
the earth. And out of the dust of the earth he made 
the first man, and laid him in the sun to dry. And 
when he was fully dry, his color was black, and he 
loved to dwell in tropical climes, and bask in the 
sun. This is the negro. And the Great Spirit was 
not satisfied with him. And out of the dust of the 
earth he made the second man, and laid him in the 
shade to dry. And when he was fully dry, his color 
was red, and he loved to sit in the shade, and roam 
through the woodland. This is the Indian. And 
the Great Spirit was still dissatisfied ; and out of 
the dust of the earth he made the third man, and 
covered all his outer parts with fig-leaves, and laid 
him in the shade to dry. And when he was fully 
dry, his color was white. And when the Great 
Spirit called him, he had made him a garment of fig- 
leaves. And the Great Spirit told him to go and till 
the ground. And he made war on the Indian, and 
took the negro for his lackey-boy. This is the white 
man.” 

We are taught by the Holy Scriptures that we 
are all the descendants of Adam. And out of Ish- 
mael, the son of the bondwoman, the Lord prom- 
ised Abraham to make a nation. The Scriptures 
abundantly teach us that Christ suffered for all men, 
15 


170 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


and one of his immediate followers, even one of the 
twelve Apostles, was a Canaanite. Your doctrine 
bars the negro from the Church. Your idea of his 
origin is new. How do you account for the origin 
of the Indian, and other barbarous people? 

Jeff. The Lord promised Abraham to make a 
nation of Ishmael ; but, at the same time, it is clear 
that the seed of the promise could not descend 
through Ishmael : not because he lacked nationality — 
not because he was not the son of Abraham — but 
because he was the son of Hagar, the bondwoman. 
Had Hagar committed any offense ? The birth of 
Ishmael was approved by Sarai, Abraham’s white 
wife,* who thought herself barren. But the angel 
of the Lord wrought a miracle, that the seed of 
promise might descend without spot or blemish. As 
to one of the twelve Apostles being a Canaanite, he 
who spake as never man spake, said : ‘‘ Twelve have 
I chosen, and one is a devil.” Among the twelve 
Apostles there were tw'o Simons, distinguished by 
St. Matthew and St. Mark as Simon Peter, and 
Simon the Canaanite. St. Luke distinguished the 
latter by the appellation of Simon the Zelotes, 
and, according to St. John the Evangelist, he w'as 
the father of Judas Iscariot. See John, vi : 71 ; xii : 
4, 5, 6 ; xiii : 2, 26. Now, it is clear that John alludes 
to Simon the Canaanite, for he speaks of Simon 
Peter in divers other places, and always calls him 
Simon Peter, or Peter. As to Simon, the father of 


* Manj passages of Scripture state that Sarai was very fair. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


171 


Judas Iscariot, being a Canaanite, many generations 
had passed away since the Jews drove the Canaanites 
out of the land ; and although the great body of the 
Canaanites had been slain or driven out, some re- 
mained, and adopted the Jewish customs and religion. 
When Joshua took Jericho, Rahab turned traitor to 
her people, and was saved alive, and lived with the 
Jew’s. See the book of Joshua, chap, ii and xi : 24, 
25. The Gibeonites were also made hew’ers of wood 
and drawers of water, and remained among the 
Israelites. See Joshua, chap. ix. Simon had prob- 
ably retained the name of the Canaanite, with very 
little of the blood; it appears, however, there was 
enough to brand him with the name of thief, and 
the carrier of the bag. As to the origin of the 
Indian, and other barbarous people, Solomon said: 

Train up your children in the nurture and admoni- 
tion of the Lord.’’ The organization of the human 
mind is such that the continued neglect of the moral 
faculties, from generation to generation, suffers them 
to sink into obscurity ; other passions increase, and 
the features are changed ; the knowledge of the 
living God is lost, and the man is a fit subject for 
another flood. Jesus has testified that some are past 
redemption, and says : Let such be unto thee as a 
heathen man and a publican.” See Matthew, chap, 
xviii : 15, 16, 17. 

Ahe. Then you w’ould oppose the preaching of the 
Gospel to the heathen! 

Jeff. It has never come to much, 

Abe. What do you say of the command ‘‘ Go ye 


172 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN I 


into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every 
creature ? 

Jeff. A man would look ridiculous preaching the 
Gospel to a congregation of monkeys. His time 
would be thrown away preaching the Gospel to an 
idiot. When St. Paul was sent to Rome, he was 
shipwrecked on the island of Melita, and the bar- 
barous people showed him no little kindness ; they 
kindled a fire to shield him from the cold and the 
rain, and he healed their sick. But if he ever 
opened his mouth to preach to them the Gospel, it 
is not recorded. But when he was arraigned before 
Agrippa, his eloquence moved the stony heart of 
the unbeliever. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


173 


CHAPTER XXXI. 


When thou art released from thy prison-house, 0 my soul, then 
Sorrow, and her sister. Grief, will cease to stalk abroad through my 
fevered and distracted brain. Then, dark Melancholy, with her 
lowering brow, lingering on the wave of time, will cease to gaze on 
me. When this mortal clay to its kindred earth returns, and min- 
gles with the worthless trash of time, to forget and be forgotten, 
then, O my soul, thou wilt mount on hope to heaven. 


Cora opened her eyes to the light of another 
day. Three mortal weeks she had been confined in 

the town of , seeing no one but her attendants, 

two or three of the servants of her landlord. In 
vain ^he had looked for a day of trial — in vain she 
had endeavored to ascertain for what she was im- 
prisoned. The golden rays of an October sun 
danced against her window, as she looked out upon 
the broad and beautiful prairies. Something seemed 
to whisper her that a crisis was at hand. She 
thought over all her past life ; she thought of her 
father, of the destruction of his property, and of 
the imminent danger of his life ; she thought of Don 
Partlo ; of her early and first acquaintance with him ; 
of his present deportment ; of his desperate daring, 
15 * 


174 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


and the dangers that surrounded him ; she thought 
of her mother’s grave, and the blood seemed to 
hurry through her veins, and the muscles of her 
frame became like iron ; she looked out of the win- 
dow, and thought of throwing herself headlong to 
the ground from her prison, which was an upper 
room, when something seemed to whisper in her 
ear — No ; I will have revenge ! ” 

The day had passed almost aw’ay. A dark cloud 
that had hovered in the west was drawing its man- 
tle over the ill-fated town of , and Cora drew a 

tattered curtain over her window, to still the sound 
of the pattering rain. The door of her room turned 
gently upon its hinges, and, for the first time since 
her flight with Burtice from Kansas, she beheld the 
face of her Kansas father. Major Six drew close 
around him a blue frock-coat, heavily mounted with 
brass buttons. Cora rose to her feet, and stood like 
a culprit. 

“ Ah ! little one, you escaped from me once, but 
I have you now,” said the Major, forcing a smile. 

So it seems,” Cora replied, sadly. 

‘‘ You are getting a little tired by this time,” con- 
tinued the Major. 

“ I have been ready to answer any charge against 
me since here I have been,” said Cora, firmly. 

Madam, you can be released upon but one con- 
dition,” said the Major. 

“ Name it,” said Cora, stoutly. 

“If you will place your hand upon the Bible, 
and swear, before high heaven, that you will assist 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


175 


in the capture of Don Partlo, then you can go free.” 
And the Major stood very square before her, with 
his finger pointed at her face. 

Is there no other way ? ” said Cora, in a meas- 
ured tone. 

‘‘None!” said the Ma^or, stoutly. 

“ Then I will rot in prison,” said Cora, firmly. 

“ That will not be permitted, either,” said the 
Major, reddening up. 

“You make me assist you! No; never! never! 
NEVER ! ” And Cora dwelt upon the never with an 
emphasis that seemed spoken by the heart instead 
of the lips. 

“ You can have your choice of two things,” said 
the Major, pulling out a brace of pistols. 

“ Give me one, sir ! I dare you,” said Cora, 
pressing forward. 

“No,” said the Major; “you must comply, or 
make up your last account.” And he drew back the 
hammer of the weapon, thinking to frighten the poor 
girl. 

Shoot, coward, a defenseless woman!” said Cora, 
as she bared her bosom, looking steadily in the eyes 
of the Major. 

The Major’s hand trembled, his nerves gave way, 
his knees shook, and the pistol fell to the floor, dis- 
charged by the shock of the fall. At the report, 
several persons rushed into the room. The Major 
stood as white as a gravestone ; Cora rushed toward 
the door. 

“ Stand back ! ” said the guard, lowering the bay- 


176 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


onet on his musket. A strong arm grasped the bar- 
rel of the musket and shoved it aside, as Cora fled 
through the door, like a bird out of a cage. It was 
the arm of Jack Jolly. 

When Cora gained the street, she went a south 
course, at full speed. ^ 

Shoot! shoot her!” was heard from several 
quarters. A Dutchman raised his gun, and a lieu- 
tenant struck him on the forehead with the back of 
his sword. Cora gained the woods, and was soon 
out of the reach of a musket-ball. 

By this time the Major had recovered, and ex- 
plained how the pistol was fired, the bravery of the 
girl, and his own lack of nerve — over which the 
whole camp had a hearty laugh. 


OR, KAX,SAS AND MISSOURI. 


177 


CHAPTER XXXIL 

On a cold and silent wind the shrill note of the 
iron horse announced the arrival of the mail, in an 
opulent Eastern city, at twilight. 

“ What is the news, Preston ? ’’ said his better- 
half, as our host threw off his great-coat. 

“Well, nothing of much interest; only they have 

got our little lady friend, Cora S , in a military 

prison, and she has managed to write to me for as- 
sistance,” said Preston, slowly, as he handed over 
the letter. 

“ You do n’t say ! I suppose she has been hold- 
ing and handing things. I always thought she was 
aristocratic. They will be apt to bring her down a 
little from where she is stuck up. Mercy! where 
are my specs? I never can keep any thing in the 
right place. You paid fifteen dollars for those 
specs, Preston ; and that, too, in good money — none 
of your ‘ green-backs,’ or notes of discount. And, 
for the soul of me, I can’t make Bridget* do any 
thing right about this house. I do wish you would 


* Bridget, an Irish servant-girl. 


178 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


get me a girl that could be managed. Well, let me 
have your specs; I am so anxious to read this let- 
ter. Your specs are entirely too old for me. Is it 
plainly written? Yes; with a trembling hand — 
poor creature ! Who is that at the back door, 
Bridget?” 

A boy for cold wittles, marm,” said Bridget, as 
she left the room. 

‘‘ Cold victuals ! Preston, why on earth do n’t 
people go to the poor-house at once? If you would 
get a girl that is not so stuck up, one that knew her 
place, and would eat cold victuals, this house would 
not he such an everlasting depot for cold victuals.” 

I thought you were going to read the letter, 
madam,” said Preston, warmly. 

“Well, I’m dying to read the letter; but when I 
see things going wrong, I can’t help talking. A 
woman has nothing but her tongue ; and while I 
live, I will use mine. But, let ’s see : ‘ My dear 
friends and honored sir’ — Well, Preston, that’s a 
good beginning — ‘ I this moment have found the 
opportunity to send you and Aunt Polly a line, and 
am oversad to inform you that I am a prisoner of 

war, in the town of . For what offense I am 

thus held, for I have been here over two weeks, God 
only knows. I am ready to meet any charge that 
may be brought against me, but none appears. I 
was taken from my father’s house by an armed 
band, and brought to this place, and expected some 
accuser to appear before me ; but none appears : 
nor am I even permitted to see an officer. Now, I 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 179 

can’t believe that the government designs to treat a 
private, unoffending person in this way ; and as you 
reside close to the Capital, I trust you will look into 
this affair.’ — Ah ! the writ of habeas corpus is played 
out, Preston,” and Aunt Polly continued : ^ You 

can not have forgotten the kindness of my father 
in years past. And, however you may differ from 
us in politics, you will certainly befriend me against 
gross injustice. I scarcely need tell you that I have 
no friends here. Most of our true friends have gone 
South. My father is, at this time, driven away from 
home, as a Secessionist.’ — Ah ! yes ; resist the devil, 
and he will flee from you, Preston. — ‘ His property 
is nearly all destroyed : all his negroes, with many 
others, have fled to Kansas.’ — Poor creatures ! they 
have seen the daybreak of liberty at last. Preston, 
have these spectacles busted ? ” 

“No, madam; they are all right,” said Preston, 
leaning foward. 

Aunt Polly rubbed her hand across her forehead, 
saying, “Dear mercy!” and continued to read: 
“ ‘ Many houses have been burned in our neighbor- 
hood. But all this is not so hard as to be deprived 
of liberty without a cause.’ — Without a cause ! 0 

dear me ! Now, Preston, let me manage this busi- 
ness. But let me read the balance : — ‘ If slavery 
has to be abolished in Missouri, I trust the white 
people will be left free.’ — Ah ! Congress will abolish 
slavery in Missouri ; she need n’t fret about that.” 

“ Congress had as well abolish the back door to 
our kitchen, madam.” 


180 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


“ Why, Preston ! I ’ve a great notion to call you 
a Democrat.” 

‘‘It’s breaking a principle, madam, breaking a 
principle. Much as I hate slavery, I would not 
break a principle of our government to destroy it.” 

“Well, if Congress was to abolish the back door 
to our kitchen, I guess I would be some the wiser 
of Bridget’s tramps.” 

“She would go through the window, madam, go 
through the window. And so the States will go 
through the window, madam, whenever Congress tries 
to rule them in local matters.” 

“Now, Preston, let me attend to this business, if 
you please. But let me place this precious docu- 
ment under my pillow. Merciful God ! Bridget has 
put the wrong cases on these pillows; she has no 
more knowledge of taste than you have of politics, 
Preston.” 

“ Tut, tut, tut, madam ! ” 

“ Why, Preston ! you know you are a straight- 
forward church-member; and Father Grimes says, 
‘ Religion is one thing and politics is another, but gen- 
uine things must harmonize.’ Do call Bridget, and I 
will order supper — or order it yourself — she never 
cooks any thing to suit me, no how. She is no cook ; 
she can neither cook, wash, nor iron ; she is only fit 
to scrub. ’T is a pity people do n’t know their places 
in this world, Preston. If you would only get me a 
cook, and leave her to do the drudgery. But, mercy 
on us, the freed people that have gone to Kansas 
will have to be supported, and the agent will be 


oil, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


181 


Cftlling on us for money ; and here we are paying 
Bridget seventy-jive cents a week, and she too much 
stuck-up to eat cold victuals. What does she know 
of high-seasoned victuals ? To hear her talk, you 
would think she was raised in some stylish family ; 
and this day she knows no more (except what little 
I have learned her) of style, than you do of politics, 
Preston.” 

“ Tut, tut, tut, madam, I am no politician ; but I 
do n’t like the signs of the times — signs of the 
times, madam ! ” 

“ You go over to the Democrats ! No ; never, never, 
never — while my head is hot ! Why, Preston, 
Preston! there is the Tradings, the Twadels, and 
the Twineguts, all first men of this city, and I 
would be ashamed to invite one of them here to tea ; 
and old Father Grimes, poor old soul, he has been 
our faithful pastor for three-and-twenty years, and 
perhaps he would refuse to come here and pray. 
Read your Bible, man ; read your Bible, and leave 
State affairs to the proper persons.” 

‘‘The Bible says that men do not gather figs of 
thorns or grapes of thistles, madam.” 

“ There you go, off the handle again, into some 
dark corner of the Scriptures. Judge not, lest you 
be judged, Preston. And there is plenty for you to 
see to about this house, without bothering your head 
with State affairs. For my part, I have no time to 
look after politics. I am run to death to look after 
Bridget and the balance of the low trash that you 
have about the house; and it’s always pay, pay, 
16 


182 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


pay, and nothing done right, Preston. It seems to 
me that you have a knack of getting the meanest, 
lowlifest, triflingest servants that ’s going in the 
country ; and it ’s always pay, pay, pay, and little 
do they know how to spend money when they get 
it — and money ought to be saved these times. I 
tell you, Preston, old Father Grimes says we will 
be sorely taxed to free this country from the ungodly 
barbarism of slavery.^’ 

“ If ever, madam, if ever.” 

“Preston, Preston!” and Aunt Polly raised her 
specs with her left hand a little, and, looking straight 
down her nose at the doubtful man, continued : “ I 
tell you what it is, Preston, our party — and when I 
say our party, I mean the anti-aristocratic, anti- 
slavery labor-saving machines of New England — 
have thrown a cast, and will stand the hazard of the 
die. They will drive slavery out of this country — 
or they will drive this country out of slavery — one 
of the two.’’ 

“People have to be educated against slavery, 
madam, educated against it.” 

“ Then I wish school would commence, and I 
could be a teacher. I would have me a cowhide 
and a dunce-block, and strict rules, I tell you, 
Preston. Hush ! did the hall-bell ring ? Some one 
is coming in. Bridget ! Bridget ! Preston, for the 
Lord’s sake, do n’t say any thing about politics.” 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOUllI. 


183 


CHAPTER XXXIIL 

Peace and Plenty breed cowards. Plenty is the 
mother, and in her generous womb — a fountain full 
of new-made eggs — wooes the spreading wing of 
peace. Chickens from this dung-hill stock will strut 
and crow, and scratch the ground, and when vermin 
creep the yard, sneak off to roost. And few we 
have of any other breed. A generous mother, with 
the fountains of her breast, has made her children 
pets, that hug, with selfish squeeze, a little raked-up 
trash. 

“ Upon my soul, if I could raise a hundred men 
that would not tremble when the thunders roll, or 
turn aside from white-faced Death, who place on 
life a value less than wind, that is not the life of 
freemen — men of such a compass and a soul, like 
Richard on the battle-field, would give a kingdom for 
a horse — I Tvould march upon the Federal camp, 
throw down the battlements and walls of all their 
bravery, like Joshua did, with old rams’ horns, the 
walls of Jerico. 

Bravery, like Julius Cassar’s brow, frowns on 


184 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


pale faced Fear, and lives a moment, as it would a 
thousand years. 

“ Hark ! is that the sound of horses’ feet ?” and 
Don Partlo laid his ear unto the ground, and caught 
the coming sound of troopers. Then, hastening to 
his camp, he said, Brave men, the foe is right upon 
us, in numbers ten to one ! But stay your blood : 
let not the bounding veins 'convey it unto your heads, 
to muddy up your sight and spring your nerves. 
Think not of home, of friends, the future, or the 
past; think not of hearts entwined in yours, or, 
lingering back within a citadel, in shape of Eden’s 
queen, and, with the lazy wheels of time, beat a pulse 
high in hope for you ; nor the blue eyes they cast 
on you ; nor the soft voice that said good-bye, but 
of your guns. See that they are right. Equipped 
and harnessed with your accouterments, follow me 
unto the crest of yonder hill ; there we will make a 
stand, as far apart as ground allows, and fire when 
I wave my hand. Repeat, without an order, until 
all of us have fallen.” 

Then, down a sloping hill, a hundred men, all 
mounted and uniformed in coats of blue, came dash- 
ing forward, marking time ; and up the next ascent 
they rose in double file, until within a short stone’s 
cast of its mortal crest. Don Partlo waved his hand. 
Bang, bang, bang! the smoke flew up in thickening 
cloud, and leaden balls went whistling through the 
ranks, without respect of heads. The scanning of 
two hundred eyes could see no man. Again, again, 
the smoke went up. Blue-coats measured on the 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 185 

ground the length of uniforms. ’T was more than 
flesh and blood could stand. The Federals fly : 

Disorder and confusion reigned 
Until a safe retreat was gained. 

Then rage and remedies filled the camp ; 

And reinforcements mustered up, with 
Itching and ambitious ears, to hear the 
The tale of ev’ry vanquished man, who said, — 

Out of the ground the rebels rise I 
You never get a glimpse of one : 

They shoot you down before your eyes. 

And never let you spring your gun ! ” 


Reinforced, and strong with foot and horse, again 
they reach the hill, surround it with their spreading 
files, search it up and down, and find nothing save 
their own dead men, marred by traitors. 

Don Partlo, with his thirteen men, have crossed 
a hundred hills, and snugly, in some lone retreat, 
are telling tales of love, of honor, or some old 
woman’s visions of witchcraft. Still, in this rebel- 
lious State, a macaroon is found boisterous in the 
rebel camp, cursing Unde Sam: then, in the Federal 
camp, with greasy tongue, as loyal as the best. 

By this means, Don Partlo is found, far from any 
public way, encamped within a hewn-log house, and 
with sixty men,' or more, surrounded at the break 
of day, whose captain shouted, in thunder tones, 

Surrender up yourselves ? ” 

Don Partlo said unto his men : ‘^’Tis but Death, a 
necessary end of this eventful life, that, soon or late, 
must come to every man ; and in him there is no 
16 * 


186 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


dissembling. He never takes the breadth of a hair 
not his own. In him there is nothing bad; but the 
manner of his coming is sometimes most horrible. 
These long and trusty guns, that we have held as 
sure and steadfast friends, have, by the dint of cir- 
cumstance, become relentless foes ; and, in the front 
of this log-house, right on the bare ground, of them 
we make a funeral pile. See ! each man has, in 
each coat-sleeve, a Colt’s revolver, carried close 
concealed; and when I clear my throat, let ’s slip to 
yonder friendly wood, firing, as we go, right and 
left ; and if we chance to meet with honest Death, 
he comes in such a friendly way that leaves the little 
we have left a name without a spot of tarnish.” 

The Federals saw the guns laid down, and thought 
the rebels vanquished. In humble gait, and with 
down look, the rebels walked right up to their broad 
circling foe. Don Partlo cleared his throat, and 
then it thundered. Great clouds of smoke encircled 
rebel heads. No Federal ball did take effect upon 
the retreating brave. This friendly wood had soon 
concealed the last escaping traitor. Then curses 
from the Federal ranks, loud and long, were hurled 
on the time most graciously given for this surrender. 

When Don Partlo and his thirteen men had gained 
a safe retreat, and all were gathering up around the 
daring leader^ he stood as pale as Death’s old horse, 
and trembled like an aspen leaf. 

“What on earth dost thus affright you?” said all 
of them at once. 

“ When we were in the house, and bayonets stood 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


187 


as thick as hemp, nay, when we came forth and cut 
our way through that fearful crowd, when bullets 
whistled on every side, I felt no fear. But when 
we had gained the friendly Avoods, the din and sound 
of mortal strife had died upon my ears. All at once, 
and like a flash of lightning from the clouds, my 
last night’s dream did glimmer through my brain, 
and it has almost vanquished me.” 

The dream ! the dream!” demanded all of them 
at once. 

“ I slumbered heavy in the latter end of night, 
and had this woeful dream, out of which the noise 
of attack awakened me ; and, by some strange logic 
of the brain, it was concealed until we were out of 
danger. 

“ I dreamed that the Federals came, as they have 
done ; surrounded us on every side, demanding base 
surrender; that Ave fought them, as Ave have, and 
made our victory good. But, a little after that, a 
lovely maid, more dear to me than all the world, a 
prisoner now in Federal hands, had made a safe and 
sure escape ; and, by directions from a friend, was 
coming to this same log-house, to blend her fate 
with ours, who arrived but just in time to be recap- 
tured by the foe. 

Dreams are but eddies in the current of the 
mind; cut off from record’s gentle stream, playing 
strange, fantastic tricks. I have dreamed of hideous, 
bloody heads ; faces awry and wan have danced be- 
fore my brain ; have dreamed of vermin* and d — n 
dens of fleas; cold-blooded snakes have crawled 


188 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


upon my flesh ; I have tumbled headlong down from 
high and rocky cliffs ; nay, have dreamed of death, 
the mattock, and the grave ; the worms that eat 
through dead men’s flesh have crawled upon my 
skin. And I have raised from all of them without 
a shade of fear; but this one doth affect me.” 

Don Partlo wept, and all of them, murmuring, 
said, ’T is strange to see the bravest man in all this 
world act the woman.” 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


189 


CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Tradition is a hopeful thing, plain as the face 
of day, and bare of ornament ; holds up the deeds 
of men, long after they are dead, to the gaze of all 
the world. ’T is by tradition that we do know the 
course of our fathers, who, long before we entered 
on this mortal stage, played their parts in this 
hopeful life. And lo ! whose tracks are left, “ foot- 
prints on the sands of time,” to guide us from the 
shallows and the shoals of all their crossings ? But 
to follow in a beaten path, a road made smooth by 
him that went before, is bare of honor ; and I had 
rather die a wanderer in fields of doubt, perish in 
the hills of time, or sink beneath the swamps of 
fortune, than fiiil to pluck from hard-handed fate a 
plume of honor. 

“ Hark ! Some one comes to interrupt my medi- 
tations. Good morning, Jeff. With you I would 
like another conversation; for still I doubt your 
moral views of slavery, and now that we are all 
alone, let ’s have it. 

Jeff. Proceed. 


190 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


Ahe, You have pressed the doctrine earnestly 
that the slave is a “minor;” you call a hoary- 
headed colored man, leaning upon a staff, by the 
appellation of “ boy! ” Where is the break in nature 
that prevents a colored man from passing out of 
boyhood, or childhood, that can’t be found in any 
other race of men? What I understand by the word 
“ minor,” is one under age, one not arrived to man- 
hood. By the word “ minor,” as applied to other 
races, I would understand an Indian boy, a German 
boy, a heathen boy ; and would not suppose you 
to mean an old Indian, an old German, or an old 
heathen ; and how do you say that an old negro is 
a “ minor ? ” 

Jeff. It is conceded among all nations that 
parents shall have the control of their offspring ; 
and when they die, their children are their natural 
heirs. It is a law of nature that the father should 
conduct the son through his tender years. Through 
this minority the son is responsible to the father, 
and the father to his country. In nature, child- 
hood passes away by the slow process of growth 
and development. In law, it passes away at the 
twinkling of an eye, as sudden as the break of day. 
Our Constitution has determined the time that all 
heirs of the government shall be men : at tw'enty- 
one years of age, heirs of the government are men 
and citizens. Negroes and Indians are not heirs 
of the government, and are forever minors to our 
government. 

Ahe. I know the Constitution excludes Indians. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


191 


If it excludes negroes, I have never been able to 
find the passage. The word “minor” is not in our 
Constitution. I know that the qualified electors are 
determined by every State; and, in some of the 
States, the negro is held as a “minor.” By what 
rule is he, in no circumstances, an heir to the gov- 
ernment? If he is a thief, the government pun- 
ishes him — if a murderer, does he not hang? If 
he resembles you in this, why not in other things ? 
A boy that has lost his father and his mother — 
nay, all his kindred — and does not heir a dollar in 
the world, is the heir of his government. It is his 
inheritance, his birthright — he is one of the sons 
of his native land. And what better claim can one 
have than his birthright? One born in France is 
a Frenchman; born in England, is an Englishman; 
and if born in America, is he not an American ? 
Has the negro no nationality ? is he a vagabond 
upon our continent, without “ a local habitation or a 
name ? ” 

Jeff. Figuratively speaking, there is a spirit and 
a body to almost every thing. When we look at 
compacts or printed parchments, there is a spirit 
and a letter. The spirit of the Bible is life ever- 
lasting; the letter is dead in itself. The cold forms 
of religion are but crumbling clay ; the spirit of 
religion is the embrace of the Lord Jesus. The 
Constitution of the United States is silent upon 
many things, all of which are reserved to the States 
respectively, or to the people. All communities will 
determine the state of their society. The order of 


192 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


society has not been changed in some of the States 
since the adoption of the Constitution, and that form 
of society was guaranteed to them by the spirit of 
the Constitution, however silent may be the letter. 
The negro is not without nationality ; he is an 
American bondman. He is not a vagabond ; he is 
heir to his master’s care. He is not without a habit- 
ation or a name ; he is the servant of his master, 
according to the appointment of God, through the 
prophet Noah. 

Ahe. I know the negro is a servant, and the 
property of his master, or has been. I know, also, 
that is the mere effect of a political powder. When 
that power ceases to exist, and he is no more the 
servant of his master, but a free man, where is 
his habitation and his name ? 

Jeff. You ask me a question that can only be 
answered by revolution. I can only give you my 
opinion, and that is, his friends must make him a 
country, a habitation, and a name. He can not live 
as an American freeman : any such an attempt will 
end in his annihilation. 

Ahe. Has not the boast of Americans been that 
this is The land of the free, and the home of the 
brave ? ” Is there an American that is not proud of 
this republic ? Can a government be a republic that 
does not extend liberty to the people ? Is there a 
man so dead to the spirit of liberty that does not 
wish all men, everywhere, free ? 

Jeff. When freedom is spoken of, every one has 
an idea of what is meant; for every one has known 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


193 


what it is to live in freedom, and also what it is to 
live and act under restraint ; but, then, it is obvious 
that different persons feel in freedom according to 
circumstances. Things which infringe upon the free- 
dom of some, have no such effect upon others. So 
that in the same situation in which one would feel 
free., another would feel himself in bondage. Hence, it 
is evident that though all have a general idea of what 
freedom is, yet all have not the same idea of it. 
For, as different persons would not all be free in 
the same circumstances, it follows that freedom it- 
self is not the same thing to all. Of course, the 
kinds of freedom are as many and various as the 
kinds of laws are by which we are all governed. An 
aged man is free to go to church with an old gar- 
ment. Force it upon a young man, and he would 
think himself in bondage. An aged woman is free 
with her head beneath the covering of a cap ; nay, 
is even proud of it. Force it upon a young woman, 
and she would be in bondage. A man educated to 
the law feels free in his library. Force him to the 
plow, and he would be in bondage. A negro edu- 
cated as a slave is free at his master’s work. Force 
him to provide for himself, and he is in bondage. 
Against the negro, as a race, I have no prejudice. 
If you would make him a free man, educate him 
for freedom. If you wish to overturn the decrees 
of Heaven, go at it with rationality. 

Abe. I can not believe that Heaven ever designed 
that one man should be the slave of another. I 
know the ancients held servants, and bought and 

17 


194 


THE BORDER RUFFIAJf; 


sold one another, and that the Jews were four hun- 
dred years in slavery, hut have ever looked upon 
it as a relic of barbarism. I think mankind are 
but one family, and all have the natural right of 
freedom. Your speculations, in our last conversa- 
tion, upon the origin of the negro, are not ortho- 
dox. 

Jeff. I know not what you call orthodox. I know' 
of no book that I esteem above the Bible ; and if 
we are to take that as true, the negro, as an ante- 
diluvian, is not a roan at all, of whom we have any 
historical account ; but that he is an antediluvian, I 
make no question. After Noah^s curse upon Ca- 
naan, we find him in the capacity of a servant. In 
that capacity is he a man ? He is, to some extent. 
What constitutes a man ? Why, responsibility. One 
may have the body of a man, but, without the mind, 
he is not responsible. Has the negro a mind equal 
with the white man ? History answers, no. Is the 
negro responsible? He may be, to some extent. 
Is he to be regarded equal with the Fathers of the 
Church ? By no means. Why ? Because we believe 
in the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. In 
what relation does the negro stand to those Fathers ? 
Go to the history of the Patriarchs, and we wdll see. 
If we are to believe the negro the descendant of 
the Canaanites, you will find that God showed it 
unto Abraham that the seed of the promise could 
not descend through a Canaanite. 

“ And Abraham was old and well-stricken in age ; 
and the Lord had blest Abraham in all things. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


195 


And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his 
house, that ruled over all he had, Put, I pray thee, 
thy hand under my thigh; and I will make thee 
swear by the Lord God of heaven, and the God of 
the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my 
son (Isaac) of the daughters of the Canaanites,’^ 
Thus commences the twenty-fourth chapter of the 
book of Genesis ; let the doubtful read the whole 
chapter. Then turn to the twent^’^-seventh chapter 
and forty-sixth verse : And Rebekah said to Isaac, 
I am weary of my life because of the daughters of 
Heth : if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of 
Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of 
the land, what good shall my life do me ? ” Heth 
is a son of Canaan. See Genesis, x : 15. And you 
will find, by the commencement of the twenty-eighth 
chapter of the book of Genesis, that Isaac blessed 
Jacob, and charged him that he should not take a 
wife of the daughters of Canaan. The prophet 
Zechariah, in speaking of MessiaJCs coming, in the 
fourteenth chapter and twenty-first verse, holds this 
language: ^‘Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah 
shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts ; and all 
they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and 
seethe therein : and in that day there shall be no 
more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.” 

When did the Canaanite grow out of all this re- 
proach ? or Tvho hath lifted the weight from his shoul- 
ders? Where is the man that striveth against God? 


The Ruler of the heavens and earth 
Knows best our lineage and birth. 


196 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


Any person that will read the ninth chapter of 
St. Paul’s epistle to the Romans, in connection with 
the history of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the 
book of Genesis, will find a ready solution of the 
following remarkable passages in the ninth chapter 
of Romans : “ For they are not all Israel which are 
of Israel. Neither, because they are the seed of 
Abraham, are they all children: but in Isaac shall 
thy seed be called. . . . Jacob have I loved, 

but Esau have I hated. . . . Shall the thing 

formed say unto him that formed it, Why hast thou 
made me thus ? Hath not the potter power over the 
clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto 
honor, and another unto dishonor ? ” 

It is very clear that the Apostle is here alluding 
to races, and not to the ungodly of his own race. 
By reading the history of the Patriarchs, you will 
find that Abraham had other children, but the prom- 
ise was in Isaac. You will find that Esau married 
a Canaanite woman, and sold his birthright to his 
brother Jacob for a mess of pottage. For the end of 
Esau, see the book of Obadiah. When we consider 
the different races of men, how appropriate the lan- 
guage of the Apostle : “ Hath not the potter power 
over the clay,” etc., to make two races of men, or 
one race and an imitation, or master and servant? 

Ahe. Ho you affirm the doctrine that a negro is 
not a man at all? 

Jeff. No ; only that he is an inferior, subordinate 
man ; that to him less is given and less required. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 197 

Ahe, You take him into your churches, baptize 
him, and teach him that he has a soul. 

Jeff. The moral precepts of the Christian religion 
should be taught to all. 

Ahe. Does the Scriptures teach us that there are 
degrees in heaven ? 

Jeff, We know that there are degrees on earth. 
By keeping the commands of God we have the hope 
of heaven. AVhen I return from that promised 
land I will tell you if there be degrees in heaven. 

Ahe. I never expect to see you, you dark sinner. 
I believe you would destroy the best government in 
the world, and all the hope you have of heaven, 
to keep the negro in slavery. 

Jeff. I can’t see that slavery has any thing to do 
with the life of the government. Why do n’t the 
Northern people abandon the use of cotton, sugar, 
rice, and tobacco, the products of slave labor ? 
They wish to put the rebellion down, and some of 
them to destroy slavery, yet they bid fifty cents per 
pound for cotton, thus enabling the slave-driver to 
fight them as hard with one-fourth of a crop as he 
did in the beginning with a full crop. Besides, you 
increase the value of the slave’s labor, and hi^ 
master will hold on to him with greater tenacity. 
Abandon the use of those articles produced by the 
slave, and he will become as valueless in the South 
as he is in the North. 

Ahe. Ah ! yes ; but there are other countries that 
use these articles. Besides, it is the design of the 
God of the Universe that the products of every 
17 * 


198 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN: 


country should go into the channels of commerce. 
We want the cotton, but we want the negro to raise 
it as a freeman. 

Jeff. Then you will never get your wants, you 
dark sinner. Every one that knows the negro, 
knows him to be a thriftless, ambitionless sluggard, 
who, if left to himself, would not raise cotton enough 
to cover himself. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


199 


CHAPTER XXXV. 

“0 Whisky! Whisky! thou spirit of friendly 
corn and sneaking thief of time ! How oft you 
come, with friendly jokes and honest observation, 
bearing lights of justice in each hand, with shades 
of wise men’s brows, to stir the sleeping, lazy sparks 
within the storehouse of the brain, to shine as 
brilliant lights ! Amid the light of all this train, 
with necromancing hand, you steal the noblest gift 
of God to man. Where are your lean and hungry 
‘ brats/ bereaved of parents and of care, to stalk 
about the world? Where are your widows, that 
have watered with their tears the bloated forms 
you ’ve made ? Where are the hearts that are 
bleeding and have bled beneath your crushing 
wheels ? Where is the man that ’s bold enough to 
say you never touched his blood? 

‘‘To the Federal camp — to seas of trouble — to 
h — U! but I will not follow whisky.” And Tom 
Steady thrust the butt of a double-barrel shot-gun 
into the mud ; and then continued, addressing his 
companions : 


200 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN: 


‘‘Burtice is drunk; the country is overrun with 
Federal soldiers ; we are in hourly danger of cap- 
ture. Burtice is not only drunk to-day, but he is 
drunk every day. He that it suits can stay with 
him — to-morrow’s sun will find me in some other 
quarter. Burtice, through all the Kansas war, was 
a sober man, brave and skillful. Then I would have 
followed him to h — ll’s dominions; but now his 
bravery — for that he never lacked — will lead us into 
trouble.” 

The face of day smiled upon the eastern hills, as 
Burtice rubbed his eyes and said, Where are the 
boys ?” 

They have disbanded. Some have gone to the 
Southern army ; some have hidden their guns, and 
gone home to take the chances ; and some have gone 
to the brush on their own hook,” said his faithful 
lieutenant. 

‘‘Desperate men play desperate games. I tell 
you what it is : we can raise a troop of minute-men, 
pitch into the country, and arrest Lord Dunmore. 
A Union man of such a noted mark doth affect the 
country. By this daring, noble deed we will gain 
some reputation.” 

“No man that owns so many slaves can long en- 
dure the Union. Better let him slide.” 

“ By red-faced Mars, the bloody god of war ! if 
I can raise the men in all Stumptown, I will have 
him before yonder eye of day again opes, its lid upon 
this dirty ball.” 

“ My lord, you are in an ill humor,” said the mis- 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 201 

tress of Dunmore Palace, as the noble lord entered 
her parlor. 

“ Yes ; a little fretted. I had some sharp words 
with Captain Spear and Major Blade ; and they 
threatened to arrest me,” said Lord Dunmore, rub- 
bing his hands. 

“ Let them dare ! Why, arrest you I they had 
better arrest Abe Lincoln, upon my word. When 
men get straps on their shoulders, they generally get 
too big for their breeches. Grive yourself no un- 
easiness, my lord; their threats were but on the 
spur of the moment. There is the supper-bell. 
Come ; you wdll feel better.” 

The shades of night were gathered round 
A country house, all cottage-bound : 

The slumbering slave dreamed in his rest 
That the poor man is the one oppressed. 

“ Be quiet,” said Burtice, “ or you will stir those 
^ — d niggers! Some of them are awake all times 
of night.” 

Dunmore Palace was surrounded by the followers 
of Burtice. A hasty man burst open the door, as 
Lord Dunmore jumped out of his bed. 

“ Ah ! you old sinner, we have got you,” said 
Burtice. 

0 Lord ! 0 Lord ! ” said Lady Dunmore, as she 
left the room. 

A young and accomplished daughter slept in a 
distant part of the house. Aroused by this strange 
noise, she hastily dressed and rushed into her 


202 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


father’s room, nothing daunted by the armed and 
ugly men, exclaiming, in a soft and persuasive voice, 
0 men ! brave men ! my father is the best Union 
man in all Missouri. He sent Major Blade to 
Stumptown, to drive off the rebels.” 

When the keen eye of the old man failed to warn 
the girl, he said, stoutly, “ My daughter, these are 
Confederate troops.” 

The girl rushed into her mother’s room, biting her 
lips, and uttering many long and bitter curses, men- 
tally, upon the heads of those who first inaugurated 
the arrest of private citizens. 

“ Massa, boss ready,” said an imp of Africa, as 
Burtice and his party left the room with their pris- 
oner. 

A November sun licked the frost of the morning, 
as Burtice rode up to a country house many miles 
distant from Dunmore Palace. 

Huzza! huzza!” rang in merry notes from the 
mouth of every coming trooper. The inmates of the 
house rushed out to see the elephant. In double file 
the troopers marched until Burtice said ^Mlalt!” 

Dixie ! Dixie ! ” rang along the line. Two half- 
grown women sat upon the fence, and sang that 
celebrated song in all its variations. 

Lord Dunmore turned down his eyes, and dropped 
a bitter tear of anguish, for his heart was with the 
rebels. 

“Do take something,” said the lady of the house, 
addressing herself to Lord Dunmore, at the break- 
fast-table ; and then, with a soft and persuasive 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


203 


voice, continued : “ I will insure your life for ten 
centn. The ‘ boys ’ will not hurt a hair upon youi 
head.” 

I^ord Dunmore grew more cheerful, and wTii^'perei 
in the ear of that lady — Do send word to my poor 
distressed family that I am safe.” 

“ Do with him ? ” said General Missouri. “ Why. 
I will turn him loose. The arrest of private citi- 
zens is like a war on women.” 

Burtice was offered a place in the Southern army. 
The hankering spirit of friendly corn lured him 
back to Stumptown. The decree had gone forth 
from head- quarters in Missouri — Death to all hush- 
lohackersl Though Burtice did not consider him 
self a “ bushwhacker,” yet his dissipation had ren- 
dered it impossible for him to get followers, and one 
of two alternatives were only presented to him. It 
was, first, to surrender himself to the Federal au- 
thorities; or, second, to defend himself as best he 
could. He chose the latter. Squads of Federal 
soldiers were passing in almost every direction 
through this part of the country. 

Burtice found it necessary to lay aside his gun ; 
but he still retained a pair of Colt’s revolvers and 
a Bowie-knife, and resolved that he would not br 
taken alive. It was difficult for the Federals t 
know him without information, or recognize him a 
an enemy at a distance, as his weapons were con- 
cealed. Yet it was soon known in camp that Bur* 
tice was in the neighborhood, and every means set 
on foot for his capture. And, upon one occasion. 


204 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


Burtice took the horse of an officer, who had left his 
noble charger hitched to the fence, and went into a 
certain house to look for Burtice. And when he 
made inquiry of the inmates concerning Burtice, a 
lady, pointing out the window, said: 

Yonder he goes, riding off your horse.” 

The officer was most furious for a few moments ; 
but there was no other horse on the plantation. 

Where are your horses ? ” demanded the enraged 
man. 

“ They have been ‘ pressed ’ into the service, sir,” 
was the calm reply. 

Finding neither man nor horse, he resolved not 
to make w’ar on women and children, and quietly 
submitted to his fate, without swearing, until his 
comrades coming up shortly after, and learning the 
particulars, laughed at him immoderately, and he 
swore most furiously. 

Enlivened by this success, Burtice partook heavily 
of the “0 be joyful !” and, as the same party returned 
to camp, Burtice followed close behind them, riding 
up to every house they had passed, and inquired 
if they had seen any “Feds;” and, on being in- 
formed in the affirmative, he would clap the spurs to 
the officer’s noble charger, saying : “ By h — 11 ! I ’ll 
catch ’em yet.” 

The sun at last rose upon a fatal day to Burtice. 

He went early in the morning to the town of , 

seven miles from the Federal camp, and commenced 
drinking in an “0 be joyful” house. Here he met 
many sunshine friends, some of whom were most 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 205 

intimate, and very liberal with the ‘‘0 be joyful!” 
Burtice lost his balance. A macaroon sped to the 
Federal camp. Burtice was telling and hearing of 
hair-breadth escapes, etc., when the voice of the 
wind said : 

The Federals are coming ! ” 

Burtice rushed to his horse, and quickly loosened 
him from the post. As he raised his left foot to the 
stirrup, the right refused to bear his weight. This 
unexpected failure frightened the horse, who snorted 
and pranced, for he was a high-mettled animal. 

By this time some thirty Federals were in full 
view, and several rushed immediately upon Burtice, 
who, finding that he could not mount his horse, 
squared himself and drew his pistols. As they 
rushed upon him, he kept pulling the triggers, but 
produced no fire. A moment’s glance revealed to 
him that they had been deprived of their caps. A 
ball from a Federal gun passed through his bowels, 
and they were still firing close upon him. No time 
was to be lost. He threw his pistols at the heads 
of his pursuers, and then, rushing upon them with 
his Bowie-knife, wounded one severely in the arm, 
as he threw it up to ward off the blow. But 
bravery and resolution must fail and fall beneath 
both treachery and power; and with it Burtice fell, 
pierced through the body with no less than four 
musket-balls. He was taken, ruthlessly, to the 
Federal camp, where he soon after died, cursing his 
captors "with his last breath. 

Old Father Tearful, an aged and pious man, and 

18 


206 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


great-uncle of Susan, the wife of Burtice, was se- 
lected by the neighbors as the most suitable person 
to convey the sad intelligence to the family. Lean 
ing upon his stalf, and with a heavy heart, he set 
out, late in the evening, upon his mission. When 
he hove in sight of the house that sheltered the 
happy family, his heart faltered, and he paused. 
The smoke gently rising from the chimney, and curl- 
ing up toward the heavens, seemed to say, “0, 
Father! do not disturb me?” A little reflection 
gave him resolution, and he pressed forward to meet 
one whom he had often petted upon his knee in 
childhood. 

The wife of Burtice, very different from him, was 
as temperate as the mother of Sampson, endeavor- 
ing to bring up her children in the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord. But she loved Burtice, 
and the' old man knew it ; and duty alone nerved 
him to approach her with this sad intelligence. 

Let the reader imagine an old man, trembling 
with the weight of age, standing before a woman, 
who, in the summer of her days, crushes and falls 
beneath the weight of the ‘‘ still small voice” from 
the old man’s lips. 

Morning had come, and Uncle Tearful returned to 
the house of Burtice, to warn the family of some 
arrangements necessary for the last honors due to 
the dead. The utter derangement of every thing 
about the house told how sadly and how tearfully 
the night had been spent. Susan had passed through 
her river of tears, and was sad and calm. She si- 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


207 


lently listened to all the old man said. The old 
man’s attention was arrested by the loud sobs of a 
little son of Burtice, about six years of age, who sat 
upon the corner of the hearth-stone. Uncle Tearful, 
willing to be a comforter as far as possible, placed 
his hand upon the little fellow’s head, saying : 

My son, don’t weep : we all have got to die.” 

“ I know it,” said the little fellow, rising up ; I 
am not crying for that : I am crying because I ain’t 
a MAN ! ” 

Why, my son, there are five hundred Federals 
at the camp ; and, if you were a man, what could 
you do ? ” 

‘‘I reckon I could shoot the man that took the 
caps off father’s pistols.” 

Who told you that ? I never ; ” and the 

old man looked at Susan. 

I know you never told me ; but you told mother, 
and I heard her, last night, when she prayed ; and 
she prayed for him : that ’s the way I know it.” 

“ My son, you must grow to be a man, and read 
the good Book that teaches us that we must pray 
for our enemies, and those that despitefully use us 
and the old man’s voice trembled as he spoke. 

‘‘ I don’t know what I will do when I am hig ; 
but I know, if I was hig now, I would n’t pray for 
him.” 

Susan gathered the child in her arms. The old 
man left the painful scene, leaning upon his staff; 
and we will let you do the same. 


208 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN 


CHAPTER XXXVI. 

0 ! 0 ! 0 ! 0 is the first letter that a child 

learns. 0-u-t — out of my prison-house ; out of the 
grasp of my enemies ; almost out of breath ; out 
of friends ; almost out of my senses ; and in the 
woods.” And Cora sat down upon an old mossy 
log, for rest and reflection. 

‘‘ Why did I not grab the fool’s pistol ? I may 
as well have had something to defend myself with.” 
And Cora looked all around for pursuers. Nothing 
met her eye save the dense forest that surrounded 
her ; for she was not pursued. 

And w^hile we leave Major Six in deep conference 
with his officers, after the escape of Cora, as ex- 
plained in a preceding chapter, we will follow her. 

“0, you heaven-born infant!” said Cora, as she 
plucked a flower that came creeping round the 
mossy side of the old log ; “ your rainbow colors 
remind me of the covenant between the God of 
heaven and Father Noah : that God would restrain 
his anger, and all the nations of the earth should be 
blessed.” 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


209 


And Cora pressed the flower to her bosom ; her 
nerves were relaxed ; she no longer thought of 
blood; she was herself again. But to And refuge. 
Being rested, she plodded her way through the 
woods, taking a south-west course. Coming sud- 
denly upon a small neighborhood road, she hesitated. 
When a wagon hove in sight, being driven by a 
negro boy some eighteen years of age, in which was 
seated a young lady, marked with the equipage of 
fashion and style, Cora grew brave, as she said, 
mentally, “The women are not persecutors.” 

Whoa ! whoa ! ” said Little Sis to the negro’s 
horses, as the 'wagon was rolling past Cora. “ Will 
you ride, miss ? ” 

“0 Cora!” — “0 Sis!” And the two girls were 
soon in each other’s arms, regardless of muddy 
wheels. 

Beader ! you no doubt remember Cora and Little 

Sis, at the boarding-school in the city of P ; 

the writing of compositions by Cora for Little Sis, 
and otherwise the greatest childish attachment. 
Hear them patiently. 

“ Cora, what in the wide world are you doing 
here ? ” 

“Making my escape from the Federal camp.” 

“ 0, my God! you a prisoner; and for what?” 

“ God only knows ; perhaps ’t is Southern blood.” 

“ 0 no, no, no ; that can not be. Cora, my father 
is a colqnel in the Missouri State militia; but you 
must go home with me. I will guarantee your 
safety.” 


18 * 


210 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


“ I appreciate your kindness ; but I have escaped 
in a most singular manner, and must make my re- 
treat sure.” 

Here Cora told Little Sis her whole story, and 
received that of Little Sis, which was — that having 
paid a visit to a neighbor, her horse had broken 
loose, and as her father’s boy came by with the 
wagon, she had embraced the opportunity of return- 
ing home in it. Now it was settled that, as Cora 
was afraid to call at the home of Little Sis, the 
latter should furnish Cora with a horse and saddle, 
to enable her to reach the house of a friend, some 
five miles distant, that evening, for the sun was low. 
Matters being thus arranged. Little Sis held the ne- 
gro boy’s horses at the gate, until he procured the 
horse, and Cora mounted and sped westw^ard. 

While Little Sis is making some deceitful explana- 
tions to her mother and father, we observe the negro 
boy that drove the wagon in solemn council with 
old Uncle Ike, a colored fellow-servant. 

I tell you. Uncle Ike, dat gal ought to be coch. 
She done got away. I heard her talk to young 
miss. She mighty fraid de Major coch her. Hat’s 
so!” 

“Well, den, why don’t you go tell Massa Jim? 
He soon have her brought back ; he do n’t care 
nothin’ ’bout Sis.” 

“ Massa Jim ain’t no Union man ; he ’s just 
’tending. I tell you. Uncle Ike, dat blue-butjton coat 
have to come off ’n him fore nigger gets to be white 
folks. Hat’s so. But yonder comes Sam Careless ; 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


211 


he ’ll do to hitch to. I go tell him. He ’s going 
right to de camp, by golly ! ” 

•An interview took place between Careless and 
the negro boy ; and while we leave Sam on his way 
to camp, we will follow Cora. 

As the sun sank behind the western hills Cora 
entered the door of an old and valued friend of her 
father. 

“ Do n’t stay, child,” said Aunt Nancy ; Go into 
town, and there you will get with the girls. God 
knows ! they may hunt you. And leave the horse 
here. What if they do find him ? he belongs to 
Colonel Jim, one of their own stripe. God knows ! 
they can search this house until they are tired. 
That they have done before, often, often. My child, 
I will tell them you have left here, and they had as 
well look for the grave of Moses. Trust that to me, 
and go forward.” And Aunt Nancy raised her 
spectacles upon her forehead, as she continued: ‘‘If 
they fool round me more than a necessary search of 
this house, I will knock some of them on the head 
with the shovel.” 

In the dusk of the evening Cora departed for the 

town of , where she was kindly received at the 

house of Mr. by two maiden rebels. 

Loudfork had returned to camp from a scout upon 
which he was absent when Cora escaped, and, plac- 
ing one hand upon his hip, as he gently pulled his 
whiskers with the other, said to Major Six : “ I have 
had a conversation with Sam Careless, and he received 
his information from an intelligent contraband ; and, 


212 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


by James the Just, I know the very house to which 
this mocking-bird has flown.” 

I think we will bring her back, and tell her that 
we only meant her to have a little exercise,” said 
the Major, gravely. 

What do you 'want here?” said Aunt Nancy, as 
Loudfork presented himself at the door, late in the 
night, musket in hand. 

^^Want to see what’s here, madam,” said Loud- 
fork, as he entered the room. 

Having searched all the rooms, Loudfork sent 
men to the stable, who, returning, brought forth the 
said horse. 

The person that rode this horse here, madam ; 
we want that person. Those who conceal are 
equally guilty with those that offend. We will take 
no excuse.” 

conceal nothing, sir. You have searched this 
house — I think this is the ninth time, and you never 
found the rappings of one’s finger yet out of the 
way. Four or five times you searched for my old 
man, whom I told you you would never find, and 
then for guns, and then for contraband of war, as 
you said, and now you come to search for strangers, 
and, I suppose, you will next come to search for the 
grave of Moses ; and I will have no more of this 
searching, and none of your impudence,” said the 
old lady, as she gathered a large iron shovel, and 
chased Loudfork out of the house. The party re- 
turned, taking Colonel Jim’s horse to camp. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


213 


Cora learned from the rebel maidens that Don 
Partlo was encamped in a hewed-log house, some 
distance from the town of — , in an out-of-the- 
way place; and one of them agreed to accompany 
her on the following day to see him, as she hoped 
to learn from him something of her hither, and get 
his assistance in some way to leave the country. 

While the girls were passing off the weary hours 
of the night in conversation upon the dangers of the 
enterprise of the morrow. Major Six and Loudfork 
held a secret and solemn caucus upon the case of 
Jack Jolly; the latter striving hard to bring him 
to a court-martial ; the former strongly insisting 
that he should, by some stratagem, be shifted into a 
Missouri command. But no terms being settled. 
Jack remained in the company pretty much his own 
commander. Long before it was light the enthusi- 
astic girls were on the road to the said hewed-log 
house. 

The morning sun had just unvailed his beaming 
face, and looked across the broad and beautiful 
prairie, as Cora and Lue gained the summit of a 
hill that brought them in sight of the hewed-log 
house. The curling smoke that arose from its roof 
threw the girls into amazement. They hesitated. 
In a few moments they discovered that the house 
Avas on fire, and surrounded by Federal soldiers. 
“ 0 God !” said Lue, grasping Cora by the hand, 
and they fled to the bushes. The house Avas soon 
burned to the ground, and the soldiers, in a merry 
troop, left the premises. With cautious feet and 


214 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


tearful eyes the girls approached the smoldering 
ruins. “ 0 God ! is that a man’s skull ?” said Cora ; 
and Lue, with a long pole, turned over one side of a 
white earthen bowl. 

Having satisfied themselves, from all the appear- 
ances, that Don Partlo and his men had either made 
their escape or were taken off as prisoners by the 
party that had just left, the girls turned their steps 
toward home, where they arrived about the middle 
of the day. Cora was much dejected, and Lue said 
“ she would have a little select party that evening, at 
which there would be none present but rebel people.” 
Still Cora was sad, and took no delight in the com- 
pany, and her spirit refused to be cheerful, both for 
her own commands and those of her comrades. It 
was now late in the night, and some of the company 
had dispersed. A stranger entered the room in 
company with one who was acquainted with the 
girls. He was recognized by no one in that house 
save Cora. It was Don Partlo, in disguise. The 
spirit of our Cora almost burst its prison-house. 
She trembled, and turned red and white, but man- 
aged to conceal herself from the gaze of the com- 
pany. 

Don Partlo artfully contrived to place in the hand 
of Cora a hastily-written note, unobserved by the 
company, and departed. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


215 


CHAPTER XXXVII. 

‘‘By two-faced Janus, the Grecian god, that saw 
the misty future of the world, and knew the deeds 
of men before they were performed, if I could 
ope prophetic eyes, and see that double-headed 
demi-god, I would invoke him on the spot to shape 
for me an argument. But yonder comes my pale- 
faced friend, that holds such a holy horror of color, 
armed with books containing deeds of men, both 
ancient and renowned. I will descant from common 
sense, and own I have not read. 

‘•Good morning, Jeff. As you have come to close 
this argument, and, as you know, I am a straight 
Republican, believing, with our sacred Constitution, 
that all men are born free and equal, I must put 
upon you the burden of the proof that could lead 
us otherwise. 

Jeff. I do deny that men are horn at all. I will 
admit, for the sake of the argument, that children 
are sometimes born, but neither free nor equal. They 
are born subject to their parents, and their parents 
are subject to the laws of the society in which they 


216 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


live. The Declaration of American Independence, 
for to that, I suppose, you do allude, simply means 
that no man in this country is born to rule, or born 
a prince. Our fathers, when about setting up the 
government, thought it expedient to declare that it 
should not be a monarchy. Hence the Declaration 
was appropriate to this country — not to others. As 
to the all men^ they could have only meant those over 
whom the government had control. 

Ahe, That is pretty good logic ; yet you can 
not shut your eyes to the fact that the American 
Government is the cradle of human liberty ; and 
with the dissolution of this government must perish 
the noblest hopes of man. 

Jeff. Liberty ! 0 Liberty ! In all the bloody revo- 
lutions that have ever stained the earth, hast thou 
not been the watchword f A man has only the lib- 
erty to do right. 

Ahe. But is it right that one man should hold 
another in bondage ? The Lord of Heaven gave to 
man dominion over the beasts of the field, the fowls 
of the air, the fishes of the sea ; but did he give him 
dominion over his fellow man ? There is the tug of 
war. 

Jeff. I must again allude to the origin of the 
negro, or to our first knowledge of him. Flavius 
Josephus, the learned historian of the Jews, in Book 
I, ^^Antiquities of the Jews,” chapter vi, page 31, 
section 3, holds the following language : “ Noah, 
when, after the deluge, the earth was resettled 
in its former condition, set about its cultivation; 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 217 

and when he had planted it with vines, and when 
the fruit Avas ripe, and he had gathered the grapes 
in their season, and the wine was ready for use, 
he offered sacrifice, and feasted, and being drunk, 
he fell asleep, and lay naked in an unseemly man- 
ner. When his youngest son saw this, he came 
laughing, and showed him to his brethren ; but they 
covered their father’s nakedness. And when Noah 
was made sensible of what had been done, he prayed 
for posterity to his other sons ; but for Ham, he did 
not curse him, hy reason of his nearness in blood, but 
cursed his posterity. And when the rest of them 
escaped that curse, God inflicted it on the children 
of Canaan.” 

The laughing at a drunken man at the present day 
would certainly not be regarded as a criminal offense ; 
yet, in the days of the Patriarchs, drunkenness had 
not produced the misery in the world that it since has. 
In the present organization of society, Noah him- 
self Avould have been the greatest offender. But we 
must conclude that the crime of Ham was not very 
great ; yet it was an offense. 

We find in the account of this affair, as given by 
Josephus, some remarkable facts. First: He did not 
curse Ham because he was his son ; for what else is 
meant by nearness of blood Second : When the 
rest of them escaped that curse, (what rest^. Cush, 
Miram, and Put, Ham’s sons, we take it,) Josephus 
gives no reason why they escaped ; and what better 
reason can be given than nearness of blood ^ God 
inflicted it upon the children of Canaan. And why ? 
19 


218 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


Because they were of a different blood, and only fit 
for servants. This is my interpretation of the whole 
matter. Him that is zealous that there is but one 
family of man, let him hear the same witnesses : 
Josephus — Book I, “Antiquities of the Jews,” chap- 
ter iv, page 32, section 1 : “ These kings laid waste 
all Syria, and overthrew the offspring of the giayits’^ 
Again — Book V, chapter ii, page 105, section 3: 
“There were till then left the race of giants, who 
had bodies so large, and countenances so entirely 
different from other men, that they were surprising 
to the sight and terrible to the hearing. The bones 
of these men are still shown to this very day, un- 
like to any credible relations of other men.” And 
in the book of Joshua, the sixth book of the Bible, 
you find, in chapter xii, verse 4: “And the coast of 
Og, king of Bashan, which was of the remnants of 
the giants Them did Moses, the serv- 

ant of the Lord, and the children of Israel smite.” 
Therefore, we conclude that the descendants of 
Adam are not all of the race of men. To the truth 
of the account given of Adam and Eve, and of their 
fall, we make no objection, but is that the whole 
truth, or all of it ? 


Did God reveal what beings people every star, 

Or show to Moses what those nightly visions are ? 

To the testimony of those ancient writers let me 
add the evidence of Sir Charles Lyell, F. R. S. In 
his “ Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man,” 
chapter xx, page 385, he says : “ When speaking, in 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


219 


a former work, of the distinct races of mankind, I 
remarked that ‘ if all the leading varieties of the 
human family sprang originally from a single pair, (a 
doctrine to which then, as now, I could see no valid 
objection,) a much greater lapse of time was required 
for the slow and gradual formation of such races as 
the Caucasian, Mongolian, and Negro, than was 
embraced in any of the popular systems of chronol- 
ogy.’ In confirmation of the high antiquity of two 
of these, I referred to pictures on the Avails of 
ancient temples in Egypt, in which, a thousand 
years, or more, before the Christian era, the Negro 
and Caucasian physiognomies were portrayed as 
faithfully, and in as strong contrast, as if the like- 
nesses of these races had been taken yesterday. In 
relation to the same subject, I dwelt on the slight 
modification which the negro has undergone, after 
having been transported from the tropics and settled 
for more than two centuries in the temperate climate 
of Virginia. I therefore concluded that, ‘ if the 
various races were all descended from a single pair, 
we must allow for a vast series of antecedent ages, in 
the course of which the long-continued influence of 
external circumstances gave rise to peculiarities, 
increased in many successive generations, and at 
length fixed by hereditary transmission.’ ” Upon 
the evidence of Sir Charles Lyell, shall we assert 
the Bible false ? By no means. We choose to assert 
that it does not sustain the doctrine that the family 
of man are descended from a single pair. 

Ahe. If the hypothesis that you maintain was 


220 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


correct in theory, the identity of separate races 
would long since have been lost by amalgamation. 

Jeff. By no means ; they won’t mix. 

Ahe. The contrary of that is of every-day observ- 
ation. 

Jeff. I know that the white and black will produce 
the mulatto. But, like the balances, when there is 
equal weight in each end of the scale, they remain 
stationary. But throw the half-blood to the original 
race, and in three generations the mixed blood will 
all be gone, by the inevitable laws of nature. 

“ The strongei’ blood within the fruitful breast, 

Like Aaron’s serpent, swallows up the rest.” 

Ahe. When you make the African a being of an 
inferior race — created to be the slave of a superior 
race — every man who believes the Bible, or is at all 
familiar with the truth of history, regrets the infidel 
doctrine. 

Jeff. I have been a pretty close reader of the 
Bible, and I would refer any white man, that be- 
lieves the Canaanite to be his brother, to the seventh 
chapter of the book of Deuteronomy. Moses was 
of the opinion that the Canaanites should be utterly 
destroyed, but Solomon, the wise king of the Hebrews, 
and man of God, held them as slaves. Hear Jose- 
phus, in the eighth book, ‘‘ Antiquities of the Jews,” 
sixth chapter, page 172, section 3 : ‘‘ But King Solo- 
mon subdued to himself the remnant of the Canaan- 
ites, that had not before submitted to him ; those I 
mean that dwell in Mount Lebanon, and as far as 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 221 

the city of Hamath, and ordered them to pay tribute. 
He also chose out of them every year such as were 
to serve him in the meanest offices, and to do his 
domestic work, and to follow husbandry ; for none 
of the Hebrews were servants (in such low employ- 
ments). . . . He appointed also five hundred 

and fifty rulers over those Canaanites who were re- 
duced to such domestic slavery.^’ A parallel to this 
passage in Josephus you may find in Second 
Chronicles, eighth chapter, seventh, eighth, and ninth 
verses. The word infidel is of easy manufacture, 
and is often the port into which theologians sail 
when hard pressed by any one who may chance to 
differ from them in their peculiar views of God 
and the Bible. What constitutes belief in the Bible, 
if we are to reject its plain passages unless they 
receive the favor of some sanctified brow ? And as 
to the truth of history — do you mean that there is 
a nation under the sun clear of the tarnish of slavery f 
No, not even infidel France. And England! 0, 
virtuous England I Abolition England ! Hear the 
testimony of Shakspeare, who once looked through 
your bosom : 

You shall mark 

Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave, 

That, doting on his own obsequious bondage, 

Wears out his time, much like his master’s ass. 

For naught but provender: and, when he’s old. 
Cashier’d.” Othkllo, Act I. 

Ahe. Such slavery as that to which you now al- 
lude is not involuntary servitude. 

19 * 


222 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


Jeff. If it is not involuntary, I do not understand 
the language, or the use of letters. Who would, of 
his own voluntary choice, be the slave of another? 

Ahe. Yes; but those are hired servants. They 
can serve a master as long as he suits them, and 
when he don’t suit, they can get another. 

Jeff. Yes ; but when and where do they change 
the yoke of bondage for that of a freeman ? 

Ahe. I only say that their slavery is not invol- 
untary. 

Jeff. I only say that it is. They are born in cir- 
cumstances that admit of nothing else, only to live 
and die in bondage. Having no control over their 
birth, they have no control over the yoke under 
which they are bound to work. You say they can 
change masters. The meanest African slave in 
South Carolina can do the same. 

Ahe. But they are often recognized as being of 
the blood with those whom they serve, and are al- 
ways treated kindly. 

Jeff. The master of the African has the proud con- 
sciousness to know that he does not enslave his own 
race. As to the kind treatment toward servants, 
whether European or American, whether North or 
South, whether w’hite or black, it generally comes 
a little like a hard winter on the poor. They are 
not quite frozen by the cold neglect of their superi- 
ors ; for it is a general law of nature, that the strong 
live upon the weak. In every department of her 
various channels, you will find the strong oppressing 
and overrunning the weak. He that would alter 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


223 


this law must assume divinity. In the language of 
the English poet : 


“ Better for us, perhaps, it might appear, 

Were there all harmony, all virtue here ; 

That never air or ocean felt the wind. 

That never passion discomposed the mind. 

But all subsists by elemental strife, 

And passions are the elements of life.” 

Ahe-. You never can convince me that there is no 
difference between servants that are bought and sold, 
body and soul, and those that are hired. You have 
said much in opposition to the freedom of the Ca- 
naanites. What evidence have you that the colored 
people of this country are the descendants of the 
Canaanites ? 

Jeff. I must confess that there is a difference 
between a bought and a hired servant ; but it is 
merely a matter of taste. All men are servants in 
some sense. I do not believe the African would do 
well as a hired servant. Having less of the stamp 
of the living God, his natural tendency is to barbar- 
ism and theft. If w^e consult the Bible, we find the 
Prophet Moses, and others that consulted with the 
living God, were of the opinion that the Canaanites 
should, in course of time, be utterly destroyed. 
Their future destiny is in the womb of time. Who 
can see the fate of that portion of them now in this 
country, when one portion of their superiors say 
that they shall be free, and another portion of them 
say they shall remain slaves? Does not a still 
small voice ” say that they may not be at all ? How 

17 


224 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


many of the poor creatures have felt the oppressing 
hand, in a northern clime, not of slavery, but of 
death ! 

As to their being the descendants of Canaan, we 
find in Samuel Maunder’s “History of the World,” 
volume I, (Outline Sketch of General History,) 
chapter xi, page 36, the historian, after assigning 
different settlements to the sons and grandsons of 
Noah, continues, in the following language : 

“ But Canaan is generally allowed to have settled 
in Phoenicia, and to have founded those nations 
which inhabited Judea, and were, for the most part, 
subsequently exterminated by the Jews.” 

Again, (same history,) in the 2d volume, page 
409, in the “ History of Algiers,” in the north of 
Africa, and blossom of the barbarous tribes of that 
country, the historian, in speaking of its early set- 
tlement, holds this language : 

“ There is a variety of opinions respecting the 
original inhabitants : some contending that they 
were the Sabians, who plundered the Patriarch Job ; 
others, Canaanites, who were driven out of their 
country by Joshua.” 

The early history of man is shrouded in mystery ; 
but, with the best lights before us, we can come to 
no other conclusion than that the colored people of 
this country and of Africa are the descendants of 
Canaan. 

Ahe. There is no use in debating this subject with 
you ; you are h — 11 on the nigger. So I must go. 

Jeff. Before you leave, let me sum up what I have 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 225 

said of his origin and destiny. With regard to there 
being other men after the flood, diverse to the family 
of Noah, I must again refer you to Josephus, Book 
I, ^‘Antiquities of the Jews,” chapter iv, section 1 : 
“ Now the sons of Noah were three, Shem, Japheth, 
and Ham, born one hundred years before the deluge. 
These first of all descended from the mountains into 
the plains and fitted their habitations there, and 
persuaded others, who were greatly afraid of the 
lower grounds on account of the flood, and so were 
very loth to come down from higher places, to 
venture to follow their examples.” Now, we are 
informed by Josephus, and also by the Holy Scrip- 
tures, that there were but eight persons saved in 
the ark, namely, Noah and his Avife, and his three 
sons and their wives. The question then naturally 
arises. What others did Shem, Japheth, and Ham 
persuade to come down from the mountains ? Was 
it the Patriarch Noah, the man of God, who received 
the covenant of the rainbow that the world should 
not again be destroyed by water? Or was it chil- 
dren born to them after the flood, whose eyes never 
opened upon the deluge, that had to be persuaded 
by eye-witnesses of that event that there was no 
danger in coming down ? It seems to me, in all 
soberness, that the original of the giants, and* of 
Canaan, may have by some means escaped the flood. 
The giants are antediluvian, as you may see by the 
sixth chapter of the book of Genesis. As to the 
family of Noah, I believe that they descended from 
Adam and Eve ; the original of the others I leave 


226 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN ; 


with the God of the creation. Hence we come to 
the following inevitable conclusions : First, that the 
African is an inferior and a different race. Second, 
that no permanent amalgamation can he effected 
between the races of blacks and whites, because it 
is contrary to the laws of nature and the designs 
of heaven. The mulatto can be produced, but can 
not be maintained without the constant application 
of the first means of production ; for the blood will 
run back to the original race. This fact, though it 
has not been closely observed, is as true as that 
water will seek its level. I know an African boy 
whose great-grandfather was a white man, yet there 
is not one trace of that blood in his veins. There 
can be no mistake in his genealogy, for the white 
blood is on the maternal side, his grandmother being 
a mulatto. Yet, any one unacquainted with the cir- 
cumstances would unhesitatingly pronounce him 


A full-blooded nigger, ob de real old stock ; 

Wid de head and shoulder he can split a hoss-block.” 

Let me again refer you to Sir Charles Lyell’s Geo- 
logical Evidences of the Antiquity of Man,’’ chapter 
xxiii, page 456. He says : “ It is an acknowledged 
fact that the color and features of the negro or Eu- 
ropean are entirely lost in the fourth generation, 
provided that no fresh infusion of one or other of 
the two races takes place.” Third, if we are to 
believe the Bible, and take into consideration the 
history of the past, and raise the mystic vail of the 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


227 


future, and contemplate the fact that the surface of 
the earth must one day become crowded with the 
family of man, insomuch that the whole surface of 
the earth will be necessary, in its strictest economy, 
for his support, the Canaanite will be exterminated. 
Josephus, in giving the farewell address of Moses to 
his people, ^‘Antiquities of the Jews,” Book lY, chap- 
ter viii, page 96, section 42, gives us this language of 
the man of God : “When you have beaten your ene- 
mies in battle, slay those that fought against you ; but 
preserve others alive, that they may pay you tribute, 
excepting the nation of the Canaanite%; for, as to 
that people, you must entirely destroy them.” A 
parallel to this passage in Josephus you may find 
in the twentieth chapter of Deuteronomy, the fifth 
book of the Bible, verses 16, 17, and 18. But that 
necessity will not be upon the world for many gen- 
erations yet to come. I am aware that many will 
dissent from my views upon this subject, and per- 
haps make long and prayerful efforts to elevate the 
Canaanite; and that they will do it honestly, I do 
not question. From a life experience with that peo- 
ple, in connection with my knowledge of the Bible 
and of history, I believe, God being my judge, that 
they will find themselves in a ne^t of unclean birds. 
Time proves all things, and I am willing that my 
views upon this subject shall go down to posterity. 
At the same time, I am willing to leave all who 
differ with me upon this subject free to enjoy what- 
ever opinion they may have, and to try whatever 


228 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


experiment may suit them with that people. He 
that touches the African in any other capacity than 
that of a servant, and is not tarnished by that 
touch, will prove something that I have not yet 
experienced. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


229 


CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

“Don’t look down I 0 God, strengthen my vision 
toward thee. If you are struggling upon the steep 
cliff of trial, and only a few jutting rocks intervene 
between you and the summit of fame, do nH look 
down. If you are laboring on the cliff of industry, 
and only a few difficulties intervene between you 
and fortune, do nH look down. If you feel the pelt- 
ing of winter storms and summer friends, don’t look 
down into the dark abyss below, lest thy head swim, 
and you lose thy foothold; for it is written that 
the soul of man goeth upward. 

“ If the devils out of hell rise up against you, and 
arraign you before the powers that be, donH look 
down. 

“When pale-faced Death comes to demand of you 
thy soul, and boldly informs you that your lease upon 
this life has expired, and that you are, without hes- 
itation, to depart with him to the land from whence 
no traveler has ever returned, do n't look down. 

“ Whatever your trials in this friendless world may 

20 


230 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


be, though they are heaped upon you as mountains, 
don’t look down. 

“ The God of heaven created man to walk erect. 
The tradition of the fathers is that God is above. 
How early I received this lesson ! When crossing 
a frail bridge made by the trunk of a binding tree, 
that spanned the shores of a deep and turbulent 
stream in Kansas, Dart-feather said, as he pressed 
my trembling hand, in coarse English, ^Do nH look 
down.^ 

0 God ! I accepted the omen ; and, from that day 
to this, I have never looked down’* 

And Cora remembered that the paper she had 
received from Don Partlo, on the night of his dis- 
guise, informed her that she could see her father on 
a certain day, at a certain place and hour. 

How slow the iron wheels of Time can turn, 

When from the hidden future we Would learn 

Some anxious lesson of eventful lifel 

How slow, how deadly slow, and with what strife, 

They seem to turn upoU the road of Time ; 

How harsh upon the ear their sound doth chime ! 

But when the dark-faced future holds in store 
Some reckoning of a different score — 

Some fearful lesson that we have to learn — 

How swift the nimble wheels of Time can turn ! 

The Colonel had been on the dodge. His age, and 
the influence of his daughter, had kept him from join- 
ing in the fight with deadly weapons. He had numer- 
ous friends, from whom he was enabled to learn all 
passing events, and through whom he had learned 
many things that had transpired in Virginia and 
Kentucky. 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


231 


Cora tearfully listened to her father’s account of 
the last days of Burtice, as given in a preceding 
chapter. Also, to that of Oakhead, the bush- 
whacker, who was captured at the burned bridge by a 
Dutch company, who, after taking him to the town 

of , hung him on the public square, without 

even a military trial. Be it said to the honor of 
their commander, that he tried to prevent the uncer- 
emonious procedure, but could not resist or abate 
the fury of the rank and file. And what is more 
remarkable, a majority of that company could not 
speak the English language ; and how could they 
understand the principles of the American Govern- 
ment ? 

Bob Beabout had left on his own hook. Some 
said that he had thrown his gun away, and gone 
home to take the chances ; others, that he had 
gone South. 

Amid all these gloomy stories, Cora smiled through 
her tears when the Colonel told her that Mary 
Hawkeye was restored to her father’s love, and had 
been married to Claudius Fairfield. [This is the 
pale man to whom the reader was introduced, in a 
preceding chapter, playing cards with Captain Sturn, 
in a village tavern.] 

Second marriages are by some condemned, ant] 
perhaps very justly. But Mary was in the summer 
of life. Her mother had been laid in the cold con- 
fines of the tomb. Her father, always a stern and 
cold man, was now too far gone with dissipation to 
be of any solace to his daughter ; but the controlling 


232 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN; 


pivot on which her determination turned was, that 
Claudius Fairfield was her first love. 

He had been wrested from her, in early life, by 
a cold, heartless woman, that was Mary’s superior in 
nothing but beauty, who captivated Claudius, and led 
him away from Mary, only to crush him beneath the 
cold charities of her affections. But Claudius was a 
true man, and he forgave Mary for her unfortunate 
adventure with the Missouri trapper. Many years 
had passed away since Claudius and Mary spent 
those happy hours of youth and ardor; but, like 
the rising of the morning sun, that silvers the east- 
ern hills, they returned. 

The wedding-day was set; and while we leave 
Mary preparing for her second bridal-day, we will 
turn and observe Rosa and Holla in solemn council. 

“ Yes ; but I reckon you will call him pa,” said 
Rosa, very pointedly. 

‘‘Ma can make me call him pa with my lips,” 
said Holla, pouting out her mouth. 

“ Yes ; but he will be your pa, and you will have 
to call him said Rosa, sternly. 

“ My pa is in heaven, and you know it,” said 
little Holla, as her eyes floated in water. 

Jesus said, “ Suffer little children to come unto 
me, and forbid them not; for of such is the king- 
dom of heaven.” 

Cora clapped her hands in joy when informed 
that Major Six and Loudfork had been cashiered, 
;^nd dropped a tear of exultation when she received 


OR, KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


233 


the news that Jack Jolly had been promoted. It 

was by the influence of Cora that Colonel S , 

with herself and Don Partlo, departed for Texas, 
leaving the border strife to be carried on by others. 
Her poetic speech, made to Don Partlo on that oc- 
casion, beneath the thick foliage of the forest, is 
worthy of record. It is as follows : 

“ Suicide ! ah, H is suicide, the spilling of homo- 
geneous blood, the relentless stab of nature’s soft 
nurse — bold, ungodly self-destruction ! No country 
has ever adorned the world with men so brave, 
so noble, and so kind ; no battle-field was ever won 
with men so brave. Mexico, Texas, our own native 
soil, record, in letters of blood, the character of 
American arms. Shall the hand that never turned 
aside from a relentless foe cowardly bleed the 
parent heart? for suicide is cowardice. Who but a 
coward will sneak into the secret chambers of his 
own heart, to steal the gift of God? Who but a 
coward will refuse to fill the place marked out for 
him by applauding heaven ? Who but a coward will 
shrink from the storms of human life, and seek 
refuge in the shades of eternity ? None ! no, not 
one ! Then this strife is suicide, and suicide is cow- 
ardice. 


“ Dark- mantled Fate, with her bow and quiver, 
Stands on the brink of our national river. 
Summer and winter, outside of her tents. 
Watching the current of passing events. 

When Uncle Abram came in his glory. 

With Radical men, telling his story, 

20 * 


234 


THE BORDER RUFFIAN. 


The proud ship of State, with half of her crew, 
Floated on the river faithful and true. 

The crew being small and passengers scarce, 

Jeff rattled the drum and started the hearse. 

The ship sailed fast, the river grew dark — 

And dark-mantled Fate is watching her mark. 

A deep ledge of rock on the Southern shore lay, 
Bounded by breakers and crown’d with the spray. 
No passage through them has ever been found ; 
The danger is great in passing them round. 

The midshipmen say they fear she will wreck ; 
The dark-colored men that stand on the deck 
Obscure the channel that she used to pursue. 

Mix with the passengers, and challenge the crew. 
Abram would ship them on another boat. 

Crowd them together and shove them afloat; 

But home and nativity dwell in their hearts. 

And dark-mantled Fate is trimming her darts. 

A piebald people, like old Jacob’s cattle. 

Will never grow out of the white man’s battle. 

A nation so crimson and mixed in blood 
Has never been seen since Noah and the flood. 

“ Come, I pray you, to a sacred retreat. 

While youth and beauty are blooming and sweet; 
Let soldiers and armies darken the land — 

You shall possess my heart and my hand.” 

THE END. 





I ; 


:• i 
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1 . 



BORDER RDFFUR. 



An Historical Western Story of the Present Time. 



WITH INTERESTINii €ON ERSATiONS 
BETWEEN JEFF. AND ABE. ON 


The Subject of Slavery. 


CMNCINiVATl; 

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 
















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